Palestinian children’s art was removed from a London hospital. (Photo: via WarmongerHodges TW Page)
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website iswww.ramzybaroud.net
The following text tells the whole story of what pro-Palestinian communities around the world are fighting for, and what pro-Israelis are fighting against: “We are delighted to report that Chelsea and Westminster Hospital has removed a display of artwork designed by children from Gaza.”
That was the summary of a news report published on the homepage of the pro-Israel group, UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI). The group is credited for being the party that managed to successfully persuade the administration of a hospital in West London to take down a few pieces of artwork created by refugee children from Gaza.
Explaining the logic behind their relentless campaign to remove the children’s art, UKLFI said that “Jewish patients” in the hospital “felt vulnerable and victimized by the display”. The few pieces of artwork were those of the Dome of the Rock in occupied East Jerusalem, the Palestinian flag and other symbols that should hardly victimize anyone.
The UKLFI article was later edited, with the offensive summary removed, although it is still accessible via social media.
As ridiculous as this story sounds, it is, in fact, the very essence of the anti-Palestinian campaign launched by Israel and its allies worldwide. While Palestinians are fighting for basic human rights, freedom and sovereignty as enshrined in international law, the pro-Israel camp is fighting for a total and complete erasure of everything Palestinian.
Some call this cultural genocide or ethnocide. While Palestinians have been familiar with this Israeli practice in Palestine since the very inception of the state of Israel, the boundaries of the war have been expanded to reach anywhere in the world, especially in the western hemisphere.
The inhumanity of UKLFI and their allies is quite palpable, but the group cannot be the only party deserving blame. Those lawyers are but a continuation of an Israeli colonial culture that sees the very existence of a Palestinian people with a political discourse, including children refugees’ art, as an ‘existential threat’ to Israel.
The relationship between the very existence of a country and children’s art may seem absurd – and it is – but it has its own, albeit strange, logic: as long as these refugee children recognize themselves as Palestinian, as long as they will continue to count as part of a larger whole, the Palestinian people. This self-awareness, and the recognition by others – for example, patients and staff at a London hospital – of this collective Palestinian identity, makes it difficult, in fact, impossible, for Israel to win.
For Palestinians and Israelis, victory means two entirely different things, which cannot be consolidated. For Palestinians, victory means freedom for the Palestinian people and equality for all. For Israel, victory can only be achieved through the erasure of Palestinians – geographically, historically, culturally and in every way that could be part of a people’s identity.
Sadly, the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital is now an active participant in this tragic erasure of the Palestinians, the same way that Virgin Airlines bowed to pressure in 2018 when it agreed to remove “Palestinian-inspired couscous” off its menu. At the time, this story appeared as if it was a strange episode in the so-called ‘Palestinian-Israeli conflict’, though, in reality, the story represented the very core of this ‘conflict’.
For Israel, the war in Palestine revolved around three basic tasks: acquiring land; erasing the people and rewriting history.
The first task has been largely achieved through a process of ethnic cleansing and unhinged colonization of Palestine since 1947-48. The current right-wing extremist government of Benjamin Netanyahu is only hoping to finalize this process.
The second task involves more than ethnic cleansing, because even the mere awareness of Palestinians, wherever they are, of their collective identity, constitutes a problem. Thus, the active process of cultural genocide.
Though Israel has succeeded in rewriting history for many years, that task is now being challenged, thanks to the tenacity of Palestinians and their allies, and the power of social and digital media.
Palestinians are arguably the greatest beneficiary of the rise of digital media. The latter has contributed to the decentralization of political and even historical narratives. For decades, the popular understanding of what constitutes ‘Israel’ and ‘Palestine’ in mainstream imagination was largely controlled through a specific Israeli-sanctioned narrative. Those who deviated from this narrative were attacked and marginalized, and almost always accused of ‘antisemitism’. While these tactics are still unleashed at critics of Israel, the outcome is no longer guaranteed.
For example, a single tweet exposing the ‘delight’ of UKLFI has received over 2 million views on Twitter. Millions of outraged Brits and social media users around the world have turned what was meant to be a local story into one of the most discussed topics, worldwide, on Palestine and Israel. Expectedly, not many social media users took part in the ‘delight’ of the UKLFI, thus forcing them to reword their original article. More importantly, millions of people have, in a single day, been introduced to a whole new topic on Palestine and Israel: that of cultural erasure. The ‘victory’ has turned into a complete embarrassment, let alone defeat.
Thanks to the growing popularity of the Palestinian cause and the impact of social media, initial Israeli victories almost always backfire. A more recent example is the dismissal and the quick reinstatement of the former Director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth.
In January, Roth’s fellowship at Harvard University’s Kennedy School was revoked due to the recent HRW report that defines Israel as an apartheid regime. A major campaign, which was started by small alternative media organizations, resulted in the reinstatement of Roth within days. This, and other cases, demonstrates that criticizing Israel is no longer a career-ender, as was often the case in the past.
Israel continues to employ old tactics to control the conversation on the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It is failing because those traditional tactics can no longer work in a modern world in which access to information is decentralized, and where no amount of censorship can control the conversation.
For Palestinians, this new reality is an opportunity to widen their circle of support around the world. For Israel, the mission is a precarious one, especially when initial victories could, in hours, become utter defeats.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk voiced alarm at an “Israeli” entity minister’s genocidal call for the obliteration of an entire Palestinian village.
Turk made the remarks on Friday, three days after the Zionist entity’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the Palestinian village of Huwara “needs to be wiped out”, adding that he thought “‘Israel’ should do it.”
Speaking before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turk denounced the remarks as “an unfathomable statement of incitement to violence and hostility.”
“The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is a tragedy, a tragedy above all for the Palestinian people,” Turk told the Human Rights Council as he formally presented a report on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Smotrich’s remarks came after hundreds of armed “Israeli” settlers attacked Huwara and nearby villages and torched dozens of houses and cars.
One Palestinian was martyred during the settler rampage and at least 390 others were injured, with Palestinian media reporting stabbings and attacks with metal rods and rocks.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the UN official made a direct call for the “Israeli” regime to end its occupation of and settlement activities across the Palestinian territories.
“My report finds that over the reporting period, lethal force has been frequently employed by the ‘Israeli’ security forces [ISF] regardless of the level of threat and at times even as an initial measure rather than as last resort,” Turk said.
He further stated: “The report finds that 131 Palestinians were killed by ISF personnel over the past year in a context of law enforcement that is outside any context of hostilities. This includes 65 people who we understand were not armed nor engaged in any attacks or clashes.”
“The occupation is eating away at the health of both societies on every level, from childhood to old age and in every part of life. For this violence to end, the occupation must end,” he added, pointing out that “In the near future, there must be an end to settlements in the occupied land. And within a foreseeable horizon.”
A group of British MPs has written to the organizers of Formula One [F1] to express their “grave concerns” over motorsport’s role in “sports washing the appalling human rights records of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia”.
Ahead of the new F1 season, which begins this Sunday, in Bahrain, 20 parliamentarians including Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, and Layla Moran, called for an independent inquiry into F1 and the governing body Federation Internationale de l’Automobile’s [FIA] activities in countries with questionable human rights records.
McDonnell, Labor’s former shadow chancellor said: “The presence of F1 gives the impression that Bahrain is somehow a normal state. Its abuse of human rights means it certainly isn’t. No sport should be providing this regime with any credibility.”
The British politicians condemned F1’s “refusal to engage with key stakeholders including human rights groups” before it awarded Bahrain the “longest contract in F1 history, breaching F1’s own policy”.
“Multimillion-dollar profits must not come at the expense of human rights,” the letter to F1 and the FIA, reads.
“You have a duty to ensure your presence has a positive impact, which will not be possible whilst political prisoners remain behind bars in Bahrain. If Lewis Hamilton can speak out, why can’t you?”
“I along with other MPs and peers from the UK parliament have written an open letter to FIA and F1,” Lord Scriven, a Liberal Democrat confirmed.
“We are asking them to do things to improve the way the sport operates around human rights, they are not extreme or radical things, they are issues that we would expect any sporting organization with any moral leadership at the heart of how motorsports, is governed and operates.”
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy [Bird], heralded the MPs letter, adding that F1’s leadership “cannot simply claim that their presence in these countries has a positive impact when evidence demonstrates otherwise”.
“F1 continues to profiteer from brutal Gulf autocrats, making multi-millions whilst victims pay the price,” Alwadaei said. “When Lewis Hamilton is able to speak out in the face of injustice, he sets a moral standard that F1 management must follow.”
Speaking ahead of the Grand Prix on Sunday, Hamilton, the motorsport’s most high-profile driver, said: “I couldn’t say whether or not I know that it’s got worse. I’m not sure it has got better while we’ve been coming all these years.”
He continued: “I know for me, I’ve only in the latter years started to understand more and more of the challenges of the people here in Bahrain, and also then in Saudi, it was my first time there last year but of course I read about some of the troubles there… But more needs to be done, without doubt. Whether or not that will happen, time will tell.”
Construction of the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir began in 2002 and cost $150m. The first race took place on 4 April 2004 and was won by Michael Schumacher, driving a Ferrari.
Denmark’s Defense Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen. (Photo: News Oresund, via Wikimedia Commons)
– Sophia Wright is an experienced Activist skilled in Nonprofit Organizations, Strategic Planning, Leadership, Community Development, and Team Management, with a demonstrated history of working in the civic & social organization industry. She contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
Denmark was in the midst of receiving its last artillery systems. Strangely, as the order was about to be completed, Defense Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen and Finance minister Nicolai Wammen decided to send all of their artillery to Ukraine and purchase an alternative artillery system, called the Atmos 2000 from Elbit Systems, Israel.
Poor management of military programs? Yes. But there’s much worse. The knee-jerk decision strongly implies that Denmark no longer upholds international standards or basic human rights, by finally entering into business with one of the shadiest companies in the world.
The Previous Government’s Rejection
When Denmark chose its howitzers in 2015, they were, as is customary, selected at the end of a rigorous process that carefully considered all aspects, technical and other. In the shortlist remained the Korean K9, the Israeli Atmos 2000, and the French Caesar. The last was ultimately selected after the K9 was excluded, due to its slow and cumbersome design. The only remaining competitor was the Atmos, which had satisfactory specs, but also carried a scent of brimstone with it.
Back then, ethical considerations still apparently mattered to the Danish government. Elbit Systems is the main provider of weapons used in the Israeli strikes on the Gaza civilian population, in the West Bank and in Lebanon. Thousands of civilians have died from their equipment and the Israeli army continues to use it to this day, regardless of the accusations of war crimes from around the world. It was again used last August, in a two-day Israeli operation, which left 36 civilians dead and 350 wounded. Finally, it supplies numerous anti-democratic governments around the world, such as Azerbaijan and Uganda.
But just after the decision to reject the howitzers from such a nefarious provider, an early hint of what was to come should have worried international observers: in 2017, Denmark discreetly purchased Israeli equipment for the first time, overriding the ethical considerations that had been the framework of defense acquisitions until then.
Despite this discreet inauguration of defense relations, it had nonetheless been spotted by Information reporter Sebastian Gjerding.
“Via a subsidiary, the controversial Israeli arms giant Elbit has succeeded in landing a million dollar order with the Danish defense […] Elbit in particular is a controversial choice,” Gjerding wrote.
“The UN human rights rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories has called for a boycott of the company, and several Danish pension funds and investors have blacklisted them.”
Encouraged by the lack of outcry, either domestic or international, the Danish government assumed it could now throw its duty to protect human rights and uphold ethical leadership overboard.
Nothing has Changed, Except What Actually Matters
The Danish military invokes delays in deliveries. That may be true, but it’s also true for all weapons providers these days. Fulfilling NATO obligations to equip the first land forces brigade is hardly an excuse, as the French howitzer deliveries were on the verge of being finalized.
This motive is therefore unlikely to be genuine. Their current supplier is currently upgrading the artillery system, which accounts for some of the delays, but so is Elbit. A late but sudden realization that the Atmos is far better suited to defend the homeland? Doubtful: Danish officials themselves acknowledge that both systems have similar capacities.
In fact, only three things have changed since the initial decision: more Palestinian blood has been shed in suspected Israeli war crimes, first; and the government has changed, second. Current Defense minister, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen (Venstre), is quoted by DR reporter East Meesenburg as “having no problems with the Israeli deal”.
“I completely agree that someone has a fear of touch in relation to the fact that it is an Israeli company. The government does not have that. This is about it being delivered quickly by someone who has proper equipment”.
Finally, light has since been shed on the unethical practices of Elbit Systems when it comes to weapon sales.
It now appears clear that ethical considerations are far lower on the list of this government than that of the last one, which had had the decency to avoid enriching a military provider covered in accusations of corruption (the last corruption-based arrest related to Elbit dealings goes back less than 2 months, in Zambia, and there’s hardly a year that goes by without a new scandal hitting the headlines) and which steadily enables war crimes. Previously, in March of 2022, Elbit Systems was banned from Australia’s future fund, due to allegations that the Israeli manufacturer produced illegal cluster munitions.
Elbit Systems Acquiring Respectability Thanks to Denmark
Atmos 2000 has mainly been purchased by non-democratic governments and States which see little value in providing ethical leadership, namely Uganda (whose army commits as many atrocities as the rebels), Thailand (whose authoritarianism is on the rise) and Azerbaijan, who showed its true colors in 2022. Azerbaijan has furthered the suffering of the Armenian people, which has already endured its own genocide, no less, by firing the Atmos 2000 on the civilian population during the Karabakh conflict, furthering a decade-old conflict that has seen hundreds of ethnic Armenians die in the Nagorno-Karabach region. The latest episode of this conflict was notoriously under-reported, as the European Union depends on gas that transits through that area.
Until now, Elbit Systems suffered an ominous reputation, as the supplier for Azerbaijani tyrant Ilham Aliyev, Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni, and of course, its own domestic operations in Gaza. By publicizing its recent sale to Queen Margaret of Denmark, sanctioned by democratically elected PM Mette Frederiksen and duly nominated defense minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen; they can hope to obtain a degree of respectability they could never have dreamt of, at the direct expense of Denmark.
Denmark will be used by Elbit as an ethical voucher to improve its image at the expense of the Danish government and people’s reputation. It will be very interesting to see how the Danish government manages to explain how it can bravely take the side of the oppressed Ukrainian people, in a high-profile conflict, but then side with Azerbaijan crushing Armenia, or Israel firing artillery shells against Palestinians, by purchasing their blood-soaked and overpriced equipment.
Until now, Denmark had been amongst the most virtuous nations in Europe and the world, when it came to ethical considerations and the defense of democratic values. But corruption never lets up and, if Israeli death merchants failed to convince the last Danish government to override ethical imperatives, they tried again once the next decision-makers were in place. This time, they seem to have succeeded.
The ministry of human rights in Sanaa called on the UN and international organizations to step in and stop the criminal acts committed by the Saudi regime against Yemenis residing in the Kingdom.
The Ministry of Human Rights in Sanaa denounced the arbitrary arrest of the Yemeni citizen, Marwa Abd Rabbuh Hussein Al-Sabri (29), by the Saudi authorities in Holy Mecca while she was performing the Umrah act of worship, and the “fabrication of false malicious charges against her.”
In a statement, the Ministry confirmed that the sentence issued against this Yemeni woman by the Saudi regime, which entails imprisoning her for a year, represents a flagrant violation of human rights and all humanitarian laws, in addition to being contrary to religious and social values.
After receiving insults targeting Yemenis from a Saudi policewoman inside the holy place, Al-Sabri responded to the degrading statements by calling out the Kingdom’s criminal acts against her country.
“Saudi Arabia destroyed our country,” she told the officer.
The statement indicated that this act, “in addition to it being a new provocation to the feelings of millions of Yemenis and their traditions, values, and noble customs that oppose insulting the dignity of women and demand upholding their status, the Saudi regime carried out two crimes, first arresting her while she was performing the sacred rituals against a crime she did not commit and the other being that the [Saudi] regime did not respect the sanctity and holiness of the place.”
The Ministry stressed that “those provocative actions against the feelings of all Muslims require proposing a new approach toward separating the sacred rituals from the power and tyranny of the Saudi regime.”
“It is indignant that the Saudi regime commits such an act against a Yemeni woman who came to perform rituals while subjecting her to security harassment and verbal assault, which prompted her to utter a word summarizing what was committed over eight years of killing and siege against her people, while the regime continues its cold-blooded crimes and siege against the Yemeni people.”
مروة الصبري امرأة عظيمة من بلد عظيم وشعب أعظم مروة الصبري واجهت سطوة الجبروت والبوليس والمخابرات السعودية بحزم وقوة لم يعهدها النظام السعودي ولا يريد أن يسمع كلاما من هذا سيسمعه من الف مليون رجل وامرأة سيبذل الشعب اليمني كل ممكن لإخراجها وإعادتها لأولادها وأهلها pic.twitter.com/BGZxIgnXWM
This violation is added to a series of previous crimes committed by the Saudi regime against Yemeni women, including killing, siege, and humiliation, the Ministry further stressed.
In its statement, the Ministry of Human Rights demanded the immediate release of the Yemeni citizen and called on all the Yemeni people and human rights activists in the Arab and Islamic world to condemn this act and show solidarity with what Yemeni women have been subjected to.
The Ministry also called on the United Nations and other humanitarian and international organizations to condemn and denounce the incident and to put pressure on the Saudi regime to release her, in addition to pushing the Saudi authorities to stop their crimes, violations, and arbitrary arrests against Yemeni citizens residing in the Kingdom, demanding the UN to provide them with legal protection.
The rate of executions carried out by Saudi Arabia has almost doubled under the rule of the de facto leader, Mohammed bin Salman [MBS], with the past six years being among the bloodiest in the Kingdom’s modern history, a report has found.
Rates of capital punishment are at historically high levels, despite a push to modernize with widespread reforms and a semblance of individual liberties. Activist groups say the price of change has been high, with a total crackdown on the crown prince’s political opponents and zero tolerance for dissent.
Pledges by MBS – who has consolidated extraordinary powers across the Kingdom’s business spheres, industrialists and elite families – to curb executions have not been kept, the new data shows, with each of the six years that he has led the country resulting in more state-sanctioned deaths than any other year in recent history.
Between 2015 and 2022, an average of 129 executions were carried out each year. The figure represents an 82% increase on the period 2010-14. Last year, 147 people were executed – 90 of them for crimes that were considered to be nonviolent.
On 12 March last year, up to 81 men were put to death – an all-time high number of executions, in what activists believe was a pointed message from the Saudi leadership to dissenters, among them tribal groups in the country’s eastern provinces.
The report – prepared by two organizations, the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights and Reprieve – says: “Saudi Arabia’s application of the death penalty is riddled with discrimination and injustice and the Saudi regime has been lying to the international community about its use.
“The death penalty is routinely used for non-lethal offences and to silence dissidents and protesters, despite promises by the crown prince that executions would only be used for murder,” it added. “Fair trial violations and torture are endemic in death penalty cases, including torture of child defendants.”
The kingdom is considered one of the leading exponents of capital punishment in the region, with only Iran thought to execute more people a year. In the last six years there have also been slight increases in numbers of executions of children, women and foreign nationals, as well as mass executions and executions for non-lethal offences. A moratorium on capital punishment for drug crimes was recently lifted.
Prince Mohammed has introduced extensive reforms across Saudi workplaces and society, giving women more access to gainful employment and changing social norms that had, for the four decades that followed the Islamic revolution in Iran, kept genders strictly segregated and enforced an ultra-hardline interpretation of Islam.
But while there was already little room for dissent under the Kingdom’s absolute monarchy, Prince Mohammed has taken intolerance to new levels, with political and business rivals subject to mass detention and financial shakedowns, and family members of officials that have fled the country being detained for use as leverage to get them back to the kingdom.
The death penalty is seen as one of the new regime’s more visceral tools.
“It’s literally a sword that hangs over all of us, anyone who dares to defy him,” said one Saudi royal in exile in Europe. “It’s either that, or being disappeared. Think Gaddafi. Think Saddam. That’s where we are now.”
Saudi insulting campaign to Palestine because of the Asian Cup
Yemen’s Ministry of Human Rights calls on international organizations to take a stance rejecting the Saudi regime’s execution of two Yemenis residing in Saudi Arabia.
Yemen condemns the Saudi regime’s execution of two Yemeni citizens (AP)
The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights in Sanaa condemned on Sunday the Saudi regime’s execution of two Yemenis residing in Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, the Yemeni Ministry pointed out that the crime of executing citizens Mohammad Muqbil Al-Wasel, 27, from Dhamar Governorate, and Shajaa Salah Mahdi Jamil, 29, from Ibb Governorate, came after unfair and non-public trials, where the victims were deprived of the right to defend themselves.
According to the statement, the Saudi regime refrained from giving information to the relatives of the victims about the circumstances of the execution, which under international human rights law is considered torture, ill-treatment, and a crime.
The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights stressed that this crime is added to a black record and long lists of collective and individual execution crimes committed by the Saudi regime against its people and Yemenis, as many Yemeni expatriates were previously executed in similar circumstances.
The statement underlined that these crimes are a disgrace to the advocates of democracy and freedom of opinion and expression, which the United Nations, especially the US, claims to uphold.
The Yemeni Ministry called on all organizations, peoples of the world, and free countries to take a stance in the face of the crimes of the Saudi regime and condemn this crime, holding the international community and the Security and Human Rights Councils responsible for the continued crimes of the Saudi regime.
Last November, the Dhu Ali tribes called on human rights bodies and organizations to assume their moral and humanitarian responsibility by forming an independent investigation committee into the crime of arresting, torturing, and killing the Yemeni expatriate in Saudi Arabia, Ali Al-Ali, as well as other crimes.
It is noteworthy that Saudi Arabia executed twice as many people in 2022 as it did in 2021, according to statistics released today by AFP.
Saudi Arabia sentences a university professor to 30 years in prison for tweets about the kingdom, its propaganda policies, and the security situation.
Muhammad Bin Muhsin Basurrah
Saudi journalist Turki Al-Shalhoub, who previously triggered a public outcry for exposing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s contentious plans against highly revered sites in Saudi Arabia, tweeted on Tuesday that the State Security Court had passed the ruling regarding the professor at the media faculty of Umm al-Qura University in Mecca, Muhammad bin Mohsin Basurrah.
Al-Shalhoub cited several connected Tweets by Basurrah and said he had commented on the disinformation campaign of the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV, Saudi Arabia’s 3-year diplomatic dispute with Qatar and other Arab countries, in addition to the security situation in the country.
بسبب هذه التغريدات، حكمت محاكم التفتيش #السعودية على المحاضر في قسم الإعلام في جامعة أم القرى الاستاذ محمد بن محسن باصرة بالسجن 30 سنة!!! pic.twitter.com/J3ubVCkQF0
“Saudi security forces only intervene when the sovereignty of the House of Saud is threatened; otherwise they would not take any serious actions,” the journalist commented.
Last month, the independent non-governmental organization advocating human rights in Saudi Arabia, Prisoners of Conscience, reported that state officials had jailed pro-democracy campaigner Fadi Ibrahim Nasser over tweets that denounced the government and the policies of the Saudi regime.
A Saudi opposition activist, Abdul Hakim bin Abdul Aziz, revealed that the Saudi authorities had arrested his son, Yasser, from his university, as part of the Kingdom’s aggressive crackdown against activists that criticize the performance of the ruling regime on social media.
Bin Abdul Aziz considered that the arrest of his son exposes “the oppression and tyranny of the ruling regime in Saudi Arabia and is a desperate attempt to force me to remain silent about the violations that the country is witnessing.”
It is noteworthy that bin Abdul Aziz is one of the founders of the “Zawina” organization, which is concerned with supporting the families of prisoners of conscience and exposing human rights violations against detainees and their families.
Saudi authorities sentenced 15 prisoners of conscience to death in November
At the beginning of last month, the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights revealed that the Saudi authorities had sentenced 15 prisoners of conscience to death, bringing the number of people at risk of death to 53, including at least eight minors.
In the same context, the Saudi Court of Appeal extended in October the sentence of Tunisian national Mahdia Al-Marzouki, from two years and eight months to 15 years, on charges of interacting with a tweet.
Hundreds of bloggers, activists, intellectuals, and others have been arrested in Saudi Arabia ever since bin Salman became crown prince in 2017, an obvious sign of zero tolerance for dissent even against the international condemnation of repressive measures.
Over the past years, the country also redefined its anti-terrorism laws to persecute peaceful activists, repressing freedom of expression.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation [OIC] has held the “Israeli” regime responsible for the custodial death of an ailing Palestinian prisoner as a result of deliberate medical negligence despite repeated calls for his release.
The inter-governmental Muslim organization called for an international commission of inquiry to investigate the death of 50-year-old Nasser Abu Hamid, a cancer patient who breathed his last on Tuesday morning at the Assaf Harofeh “Israeli” hospital near Tel Aviv.
The organization described the tragic death while in custody as another crime amid relentless “Israeli” aggression against the people of Palestine, especially those languishing in detention centers across the occupied territories, while reaffirming its support for Palestinian prisoners.
The OIC also urged international bodies to act promptly in order to protect the rights of Palestinian prisoners and put pressure on the “Israeli” regime to cease its unending rights violations in the occupied territories and release the prisoners immediately.
Palestinian Authority [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas denounced Abu Hamid death as a result of “Israeli” medical negligence as a full-fledged war crime.
During a meeting at the presidential headquarters in the occupied central West Bank city of Ramallah, Abbas said Abu Hamid’s custodial death bears testimony to the extent of injustice inflicted upon the Palestinian nation.
The meeting was called to address international actions to confront the racist and colonial practices of “Israeli” authorities in light of the formation of a far-right administration in Tel Aviv and the death of the cancer-stricken Palestinian detainee.
He held the Tel Aviv regime fully responsible for his death, saying Palestinians “will launch a broad international campaign to put anyone before their legal and historical responsibilities in order to provide protection for defenseless Palestinians in the West Bank, East al-Quds and the Gaza Strip.”
It is unacceptable for the international community to remain silent and turn a blind eye to “Israeli” crimes, the PA president stressed.
“Israeli” authorities announced in a statement on Wednesday that the regime will keep the remains of Abu Hamid for negotiations with the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement.
“After conferring with security authorities, it was decided that ‘Israel’ will keep the body of Nasser Abu Hamid for the purpose of negotiating the release of ‘Israeli’ hostages,” the statement quoted “Israeli” War minister Benny Gantz as saying.
Abu Hamid had been battling death for several months in Ramla Prison Hospital. His health deteriorated following the spread of cancerous cells in his body, completely damaging his left lung.
Hamid hailed from the al-Amari refugee camp in the occupied central occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. He was incarcerated in 2002 and was sentenced to life imprisonment after an “Israeli” court found him guilty of participating in attacks during the Second Palestinian Intifada [uprising].
Abu Hamid was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2021 after “Israeli” authorities delayed the provision of medical examinations and treatment, according to Palestinian prisoner rights groups.
His family had appealed to all international bodies to take urgent and effective action to save his life, but to no avail.
There are more than 7,000 Palestinians incarcerated in “Israeli” jails. Human rights organizations say the “Israeli” entity violates all the rights and freedoms granted to prisoners by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
“Israeli” jail authorities keep Palestinian prisoners under deplorable conditions without proper hygienic standards. Palestinian inmates have also been subject to systematic torture, harassment, and repression.
As Saudi Arabia is hardening crackdown on dissent, including targeting its citizens who live abroad, a Yemeni-American citizen has been detained in Saudi Arabia while performing the ‘Umrah’ pilgrimage at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam’s holiest site.
Mohamad Salem was taken into custody on November 1 and has been transferred to a maximum-security facility typically used for high-profile political prisoners and suspected terrorists.
Salem, a 63-year-old of Yemeni origin, is one of several Americans who have recently run afoul of Saudi authorities.
Abdallah Moughni, a family spokesman from the US state of Michigan said on Sunday that Salem traveled to Saudi Arabia with two of his sons to perform the Umrah pilgrimage.
While in line, he got into a verbal altercation with security officials who separated him from his sons.
Later, two men approached him, saying they were from Libya and asking what happened.
“At this point, Mohamad was livid, he was furious. He just let it out. He said, ‘If it was not for Mecca and Medina, we would burn this country to the ground’,” Moughni was quoted as saying on Sunday.
The two men turned out to be undercover Saudi agents, and Salem was detained.
Salem’s relatives have grown increasingly concerned for his welfare since he was transferred to Dhahban Central Prison, where rights groups previously documented allegations of torture via electrocution and flogging.
Saudi Arabia is often criticized for not tolerating dissent and has recently been in the spotlight for decades-long prison sentences handed down to a number of women who tweeted and retweeted posts critical of the Riyadh regime.
This week, Carly Morris, an American woman who has publicly accused her Saudi ex-husband of trapping their daughter in the kingdom under so-called guardianship laws, was briefly detained.
Last month, Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old US citizen of Saudi origin, had received a 16-year prison sentence apparently because of Twitter posts on topics including the war in Yemen and the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
All sentences were handed down weeks after President Joe Biden of the United States set aside his past condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record to travel to the kingdom, despite criticism from rights groups and Saudi exiles.
It was a moment when the US urgently needed the kingdom to keep up oil production. But the Biden administration has ended up with no more oil or any improvement in human rights.
Saudi rights advocates say Biden’s attempts to soothe the crown prince have only emboldened him.
Saudi authorities illicitly monitor and strike out against their citizens in the US and other Western countries. Since the gruesome murder of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the Saudi crown prince has been emboldened to commit more crimes against dissidents. Khashoggi was killed and dismembered at the mission in October 2018.
Since bin Salman became Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader in 2017, the kingdom has arrested hundreds of activists, bloggers, intellectuals and others for their political activism, showing almost zero tolerance for dissent even in the face of international condemnation of the crackdown.
Freedom House, a research and advocacy group, says Saudi Arabia has targeted critics in more than a dozen countries.
Saudi Arabia, a key ally of the US and the ‘Israeli’ regime, has had one of the poorest human rights records in the world for decades.
No thanks to the sanctions imposed on the Syrian people by the US-led camp of humanitarian hypocrites, 90 percent of the Syrians live under the poverty line, the UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures and human rights Alena Douhan said concluding her 12 days visit to Syria.
NATO countries continue to occupy large areas of Syria, namely the United States of America and Turkey, and coincidentally or purposely the areas they occupy are the country’s resource-rich areas considered the food basket and the main source of water, oil, and gas, stealing these much-needed essentials and depriving the Syrian people of their own food and fuel.
“I am struck by the pervasiveness of the human rights and humanitarian impact of the unilateral coercive measures imposed on Syria and the total economic and financial isolation of a country whose people are struggling to rebuild a life with dignity, following the decade-long war.” UN Rappporteur Alena Duhan
The once self-sufficient Syrian nation exporting food, medicine, and a wide range of products to dozens of countries around the world is now having “limited access to food, water, electricity, shelter, cooking, and heating fuel, transportation, and healthcare with the country facing a massive brain-drain due to growing economic hardship,” the UN expert added.
The UN rapporteur spent 12 days across the country and concluded her findings by attributing the hardship to the ‘blocking of payments and refusal of deliveries by foreign producers and banks, coupled with sanctions-induced limited foreign currency reserves.’
“With more than half of the vital infrastructure either completely destroyed or severely damaged, the imposition of unilateral sanctions on key economic sectors, including oil, gas, electricity, trade, construction, and engineering have quashed national income, and undermine efforts towards economic recovery and reconstruction.
Previous similar calls by United Nations officials were made to lift the unilateral coercive measures dubbed wrongly as sanctions imposed on the Syrian people with no attention from those imposing those measures, instead:
“I urge the immediate lifting of all unilateral sanctions that severely harm human rights and prevent any efforts for early recovery, rebuilding, and reconstruction.”
It is strange that this report has not been given the attention it needed despite the fact that the man-made suffering is inflicted on over 20 million human beings who have done nothing to harm those inflicting that suffering on them, namely the United States of America and its UK, Canada, and Australia lackeys, and its European Union vassal states.
Not only does the United States of America impose its coercive measures on Syrian institutions, but it also extended its measures against third parties dealing with Syrian institutions which prevented hesitant companies including state-owned companies in countries presumably allied with Syria in the war on the US-sponsored terrorism, from doing business with Syria, despite the fact that they themselves are targeted by the fading US empire.
The same countries that are flooding the world’s arenas with crocodile tears over the suffering of the Ukrainian people they caused by starting the conflict with Russia in 2014 are inflicting more severe suffering on the Syrian people in addition to commanding terrorist organizations, the likes of al Qaeda and ISIS (ISIL – Daesh) to kill, maim, and kidnap Syrians.
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Relatives of Bahraini political prisoners have called on Pope Francis to put pressure on the Manama regime to end human rights abuses across the kingdom, calling on the pontiff to highlight the plight of the inmates by visiting their families and even prisoners themselves.
In a report published on Friday, Middle East Eye said the relatives of political prisoners in Bahrain had welcomed Pope Francis’ call for the revocation of the death penalty and observance of human rights in the kingdom, expressing hope that the pontiff would use the remainder of his historic four-day trip to visit families of death row inmates as well as the prisoners.
“There is an urgent need for the Pope to continue pressuring towards ending human rights violations,” Ali Mushaima, Bahraini human rights activist and son of an imprisoned Bahraini opposition leader Hasan Mushaima, told Middle East Eye on Friday.
“I previously requested the Pope meet with my father in prison and demand the immediate release of all political prisoners and I hope that this will happen during the upcoming days.”
The Pope’s visit comes as Bahraini rights activists have raised concerns that the ruling Al Khalifa regime would take advantage of the trip to showcase an image of religious coexistence even while standing accused of systematic persecution of the Shia majority in the country, including many of the political prisoners.
Maryam Alkhawaja, a Bahraini human rights activist and daughter of Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, a prominent human rights defender imprisoned since 2011, told Middle East Eye that she and others had called on the Pope to cancel his visit to Bahrain or refuse to shake hands with the kingdom’s ruler, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, but neither of them came to pass.
“However, we are very happy to see that he took this as an opportunity to raise human rights concerns including the death penalty and the sectarian discrimination against the Shia population in Bahrain,” Alkhawaja said.
The rights activist also said she believed the regime’s plan to use the Pope’s trip as a publicity stunt had backfired, adding, “The visit has worked against them as it has brought further attention to the disastrous human rights situation in the country.”
Bahrain’s main opposition group, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, said in a statement on Friday that the ruling regime was exploiting the ongoing visit by Pope Francis to cover up its gross human rights violations and repressive measures against democracy advocates.
Al-Wefaq added that the Manama regime seeks to mask the extent of its oppression and religious discrimination as prisons and detention centers across Bahrain are full of scholars, professors, elites and nationalist figures who are subjected to all forms of torture and humiliation.
Earlier, nine international human rights organizations urged Pope Francis to call for an end to human rights abuses in Bahrain and denounce the injustice and repressive policies of the Al-Khalifa regime during his visit to the country.
The head of the Catholic Church is currently paying an official visit to Bahrain at the invitation of the country’s civil and ecclesial authorities. He will conclude his trip on November 6.
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About 30,000 people attend a mass presided over by the Pope in Bahrain
Bahrain has the biggest number of political prisoners among Arab states, an independent human rights organization said.
The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights [BCHR] censured the Gulf kingdom over its repressive measures and heavy-handed crackdown against political opponents and democracy advocates.
It said in a report that Bahrain, under the ruling Al Khalifa dynasty, has the largest number of imprisoned rights activists, and it is estimated that there are some 4,500 campaigners being held behind bars across the country.
The organization went on to note that a lot of reports published over the past decade have shed light on the deplorable conditions of prisoners at Bahraini jails, prompting the international community and human rights organizations to compel the Al Khalifa regime to relatively improve prison conditions.
BCHR highlighted that Bahraini authorities have arrested about 15,000 people for their political beliefs over the last decade, thus turning the country into the first Arab nation with the highest number of prisoners in recent years.
Political prisoners in Bahrain are subjected to various forms of torture, ill-treatment and persecution, and the Al Khalifa regime silences any opposing voice through detention, torture and execution, it pointed out.
Lately, Jalal Feroz, a former member of the Bahraini parliament, said more than 2,500 political opponents are incarcerated in Bahraini prisons, and that they are subjected to the most vicious forms of torture.
BCHR, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights [GCHR] and Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain [ADHRB] recently in a joint report entitled “Prison Conditions in Bahrain” pointed to the serious structural deficiencies in Bahrain’s criminal justice system, and lack of fair trials for defendants.
They emphasized that human rights are being violated on a large scale at detention centers across the Gulf kingdom, and inmates are exposed to various forms of torture and ill-treatment.
Demonstrations have been held in Bahrain on a regular basis since the popular uprising began in the Arab country in mid-February 2011.
People demand that the Al Khalifa regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.
Manama, however, has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any form of dissent.
The normalization of Bahrain With “Israel” is the great betrayal
KSA is the site of a brutal attack by Saudi authorities on young girls protesting forf their rights at an orphanage in the Asir province, which sparked outrage on social media.
Part of the leaked video from the orphanage (Tasnim News)
Saudi security authorities aggressively committed violence toward young girls in an orphanage in the Asir province, which came after the girls had demanded to get their rights in the orphanage.
According to Saudi activists, the security authorities entered the orphanage with permission from the facility’s administration, and a leaked video shows the authorities chasing the girls inside and beating them.
Violence against women in #SaudiArabia is a horrific.. This is an attack by dozens of male security forces who used tasers and sticks and abused orphaned girls inside the orphanage just for their hunger strike to improve their poor living conditions.#ايتام_خميس_مشيطpic.twitter.com/NHevnNR9Ki
Saudi news outlets have reported that Asir’s Prince, Turki bin Talal bin Abdel-Aziz, has ordered the formation of a committee to convene on the incident, which the Asir Emirate has not released any information about, with the hashtag “Khamees Mushayt Orphans” going viral on social media platforms.
A mere two weeks ago, Salma Al-Shehab, a dental hygiene student at Leeds University and a mother of two, who had returned home for a vacation was sentenced to 34 years in prison for following and retweeting dissidents and activists on her personal Twitter account – for the “crime” of using an internet website to “cause public unrest and destabilize civil and national security.” On Twitter, she regularly shared pictures of her young children and tweets about Covid burnout.
Court records reviewed by a human rights organization show that another Saudi Arabian woman, Nourah bint Saeed Al-Qahtani, has been sentenced to decades in jail (45 years) for using social media to “violate the public order” by the country’s terrorism court.
Abdullah Alaoudh, the director for the Gulf region at Dawn, said Saudi authorities appear to have imprisoned Al-Qahtani for “simply tweeting her opinions,” adding that “it is impossible not to connect the dots between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s meeting with [US] President Biden last month in Jeddah and the uptick in the repressive attacks against anyone who dares criticize the crown prince or the Saudi government for well-documented abuses.”
Saudi prisons, regardless of whether for females or males, are notorious for techniques of torture and abuse that go beyond human rights violations and that suspiciously resemble brutal methods used at US Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prisons. Methods of abuse range from electric shocks, to psychological torture and sexual abuse.
MBS concealing the truth with top-dollar parties
Since Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) became the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia in 2017, the country has jailed hundreds of activists, bloggers, academics, and others for political activism, demonstrating almost zero tolerance for dissent despite international condemnation of the crackdown. Muslim academics have been executed and women’s rights activists have been imprisoned and tortured, while the Kingdom’s authorities continue to deny freedom of expression, association, and belief.
The case poses evidence of how MBS has targeted Twitter users in his repression campaign, while also controlling a significant indirect stake in the US social media company through Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Most recently, the Kingdom has been using the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and its corresponding entertainment performances by renowned artists like Justin Bieber and A$AP Rocky and actresses like Elite’s Maria Pedraza to polish its image in the international arena, diverting its controversial reputation to a more moderate one as planned by MBS himself.
Non-Saudi women residing in the Kingdom, such as domestic workers under the Kafala sponsorship, are among those dramatically affected by the abuse of women’s rights, as not only are their passports taken away, but their freedom of communication and movement is limited and sexual harassment and abuse are unfortunately a daily occurrence in the household.
Saudi Police Brutally Attack Girls’ Orphanage in Asir [Video]
August 31, 2022
By Staff, Agencies
In a disturbing footage, the Saudi regime’s lies about the empowerment of women have been documented.
The baseless claims of empowering females in the kingdom have been proved the other way after the video that shows ‘security’ forces brutally attacking girls in an orphanage in Khamis Mushait in Asir region went viral.
The secretly recorded footage and photos captured the moment Saudi police stormed the girls’ orphanage to punish striking female workers who had previously demanded their workers’ and social rights.
Social media activists shared the videos and images from the incident that took place inside an orphanage southwestern Saudi Arabia, sparking widespread condemnation.
One of the videos showed a number of masked individuals and several security personnel entering the Social Education House in the Asir region in the widely circulated video clip, which was later republished by a Saudi newspaper.
The so-called Emirate of Asir region, for its part, provided the following explanation in a statement made public by the Saudi Press Agency: “In reference to what was shared on social media, videos and photos showing an incident inside the Social Education House in the Khamis Mushait Governorate in the Asir region, a directive was issued by His Royal Highness Prince Turki bin Talal bin Abdulaziz, governor of the Asir region, formed a committee to find out the incident, investigate all parties involved , and refer the case to the competent authority.”
On Wednesday morning, Arab social media users spent most of their time talking about the “Khamis Mushait orphans” hashtag on Twitter. However, the Emirate of Asir made no further statements regarding the incident.
Salma Al-Shehab, a student at Leeds University and a mother of two, is charged with following and retweeting dissidents and activists on Twitter by Riyadh’s so-called “special terrorist court”.
Salma al-Shehab, a student at Leeds University and a mother of 2
A Saudi university student who had returned home for a vacation was sentenced to 34 years in prison for following and retweeting dissidents and activists on her personal Twitter account.
The sentence was handed down by Saudi Arabia’s so-called “special terrorist court” just weeks after US President Joe Biden’s visit to the Kingdom, which human rights activists warned could give Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) a green light to intensify his crackdown on dissidents and other pro-democracy activists.
The case poses evidence of how MBS has targeted Twitter users in his repression campaign, while also controlling a significant indirect stake in the US social media company through Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
In MBS’ playbook, Tweeting is a crime
Salma Al-Shehab, a 34-year-old mother of two, aged four and six, was initially sentenced to three years in prison for the “crime” of using an internet website to “cause public unrest and destabilize civil and national security.”
However, an appeals court handed down the new sentence on Monday – 34 years in prison followed by a 34-year travel ban – after a public prosecutor requested that the court consider other alleged crimes.
Shehab was not a prominent or particularly vocal Saudi activist, neither in Saudi Arabia nor in the United Kingdom.
On Instagram, where she had only 159 followers, she described herself as a dental hygienist, medical educator, PhD student at Leeds University, lecturer at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, wife, and mother to her sons, Noah and Adam.
Her Twitter profile listed 2,597 followers. She regularly shared pictures of her young children and tweets about Covid burnout.
Shehab rarely retweeted posts from Saudi dissidents in exile calling for the release of political prisoners in the Kingdom.
The PhD student appeared to support the case of Loujain Al-Hathloul, a prominent Saudi feminist activist who was previously imprisoned and tortured for advocating for women’s driving rights, and is now subject to a travel ban.
Someone who knew Shehab said she couldn’t stand injustice. She was described as well-educated and a voracious reader who had moved to the UK in 2018 or 2019 to pursue her PhD at the University of Leeds.
She had returned to Saudi Arabia for a vacation in December 2020, intending to bring her two children and husband with her. Saudi authorities then summoned her for questioning, and she was eventually arrested and tried for her tweets.
Of secret torture and oppressed revelations
In further detail, a person who followed her case revealed that Shehab had been held in solitary confinement at times and had sought to privately tell the judge details about how she had been treated that she did not want to reveal in front of her father during the trial.
She was not permitted to communicate the message to the judge, as per the source. Three judges signed the appeals verdict, but their signatures were illegible.
On its account, Twitter declined to comment on the case and did not respond to specific questions about Saudi Arabia’s influence over the company, according to the Guardian.
It is worth noting that Twitter previously did not respond to questions about why a senior aide to MBS, Bader Al-Asaker, was allowed to keep a verified Twitter account with more than 2 million followers, despite US government allegations that he orchestrated an illegal infiltration of the company, leading to the identification and imprisonment of anonymous Twitter users by the Saudi government. A former Twitter employee has been convicted in the case by a US court.
The Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who owns more than 5% of Twitter through his investment company, Kingdom Holdings, is one of Twitter’s most significant investors.
While bin Talal remains the company’s chairman, his authority over the company was called into question by the US media, including the Wall Street Journal, after it was revealed that the Saudi royal – a cousin of the crown prince – had been held captive at the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh for 83 days.
The incident was part of a larger purge led by MBS against other members of the royal family and businessmen, which involved allegations of torture, coercion, and the expropriation of billions of dollars from Saudi Arabian coffers.
In May, Kingdom Holding announced that it had sold approximately 17% of its company to the PIF, of which bin Salman is chairman, for $1.5 billion. As a result, the Saudi government is a significant indirect investor in Twitter. According to Twitter, investors have no influence over the company’s day-to-day operations.
“MBS’s ruthless repression machine”
The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights condemned Shehab’s sentence, which it said was the longest ever imposed on an activist. It was noted that many female activists had been subjected to unfair trials that resulted in arbitrary sentences, as well as “severe torture,” including sexual harassment.
Khalid Aljabri, a Saudi living in exile whose sister and brother are detained in Saudi Arabia, said the Shehab case demonstrated Saudi Arabia’s view that dissent equals terrorism.
“Salman’s draconian sentencing in a terrorism court over peaceful tweets is the latest manifestation of MBS’s ruthless repression machine,” he said.
“Just like [journalist Jamal] Khashoggi’s assassination, her sentencing is intended to send shock waves inside and outside the kingdom – dare to criticize MBS and you will end up dismembered or in Saudi dungeons.”
While the case has received little attention, the Washington Post published a sarcastic editorial about Saudi Arabia’s treatment of the Leeds student on Tuesday, stressing that her case demonstrated that the “commitments” the US President received on reforms were “a farce.”
“At the very least, Mr. Biden must now speak out forcefully and demand that Ms. Shehab be released and allowed to return to her sons, 4 and 6 years old, in the United Kingdom, and to resume her studies there,” it read.
In a series of concert cancellations, Rodrigo y Gabriela has become one of many artists to terminate their show in “Tel Aviv” following an uproar from human rights activists.
Rodrigo y Gabriela (Guitar.com)
Various artists and musicians have been joining hands in canceling shows in apartheid “Israel”, especially in light of the 2021 and 2022 Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and after a massive global uproar from fans and human rights defenders.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding member of the BDS movement, welcomed the decision of the Mexican band, Rodrigo y Gabriela, who announced the termination of their upcoming show hours before it was due to take place in the Tel Aviv Culture Center, just a short drive from where the Israeli occupation killed 48 Palestinians including 19 children and injured 360 more.
Chain of cancellations by global musicians
Even before the attacks on Gaza, Rodrigo y Gabriela had privately told the Palestinian group Le Trio Joubran that they had ditched the Tel Aviv concert. Le Trio Joubran, renowned oud marvels, had appealed last month to the Mexican band to cancel their appearance by urging on social media: “Please Rod and Gabi, take the right decision”.
During the band’s show at the Esperanzah festival in Belgium, fans waved the Palestinian flags and keffiyehs and urged Rodrigo y Gabriela to cancel the concert in the occupied territories.
Irish actor Steve Wall also appealed to the band, joined by Mexican and Irish human rights defenders. Rodrigo y Gabriela spent eight years living and working in Dublin, after originating in Mexico and becoming known for heavy metal, nuevo flamenco, and rock.
While the duo did not publicly address their cancellation of the concert in apartheid “Israel”, they posted a tweet two days before it had been due to take place that their tour was now over – now the third apartheid “Tel Aviv” concert to be canceled this summer.
Le duo mexicain @rodgab prévoit de se produire à Tel Aviv dans un auditorium financé par un des fondateurs du programme de colonisation.
Hier soir à @esperanzah, des militants demandaient aux deux artistes d'annuler leur performance dans un pays qui pratique l'apartheid. pic.twitter.com/JR3YUnY3Gj
Another was US band Big Thief who apologized to their fans in June for their announcement of two shows in apartheid “Israel”, and voiced their opposition to “the systematic oppression of the Palestinian people”. That did not sit well with the venue Barby in which they were supposed to play, calling the band a “bunch of miserable, spineless musicians”.
Canadian group BADBADNOTGOOD followed suit and announced the cancellation of their concert at Barby as well, as a result of appeals from fans and activists which were privately verified.
The PACBI urged all artists to reject offers from “Israel’s” cultural sector that is complicit in apartheid and to refuse to “art-wash” “Israel’s” massacres.
Two Palestinians were killed; one was a child killed by an Israeli settler’s fire and the other was a person with disability succumbed to his injury by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)’s fire. Also, 16 Palestinians, including a child, were injured, while dozens of others suffocated in in the West Bank. Details are as follows:
On 29 July 2022, Amjad Nashat Abu ‘Alia (15) was killed with a live bullet that penetrated his back and exited his chest after an Israeli settler opened fire at him from a distance of less than 60 meters during IOF’s suppression of a peaceful protest against settlement activity near the eastern entrance to Al-Mughayyir village. According to eyewitnesses’ statement, a group of Israeli settlers, under IOF’s protection, spread in the area, where the peaceful protest was organized, and assaulted the protestors along with IOF.
On the same day, Hussain Hasan Qawareeq (59), a person with disability (mental disorder), from Nablus, died in an Israeli hospital after succumbing to wounds he sustained on 26 July 2022 when he was shot by IOF at Huwara checkpoint that is established at Nablus’s southeastern entrance. IOF claimed that Qawareeq did not obey their orders at the time, and they took him to an Israeli hospital to receive treatment.
Meanwhile, those injured were victims of excessive use of force that accompanied IOF incursions into Palestinian cities and villages and suppression of peaceful protests and gatherings organized by Palestinian civilians, and they were as follows:
On 28 July 2022, three Palestinians were injured and one of them, a police officer, was arrested after IOF stationed at Huwara checkpoint that is established at Nablus’s southeastern entrance opened fire at a vehicle travelled by them near the checkpoint. Two of the injured Palestinians managed to flee while the third one was arrested and taken to an Israeli hospital. Later, IOF claimed that they thwarted a shooting attempt at the checkpoint.
On 29 July 2022, 11 Palestinians were shot with rubber bullets; 2 of them were shot in the head, in clashes after IOF’s suppression of Kafr Qaddoum weekly protest in northern Qalqilya.
On 31 July 2022, a Palestinian sustained a bullet wound in his leg after IOF opened fire at him and other workers near the annexation wall adjacent to Zeita village in northern Tulkarm while the workers were trying to infiltrate through the wall to work in Israel.
On 01 August 2022, a child was wounded after being hit with a teargas canister in his head, while dozens of other Palestinians suffocated in clashes that accompanied IOF’s demolition of a house in Kafr ad-Dik village, west of Salfit. On the same day, a woman sustained bruises after being assaulted by IOF, who raided her house in Jenin refugee camp and arrested her husband Bassam Ragheb al-Sa’di, a leader in the Islamic Jihad Movement, and his son-in-law. During IOF’s incursion, clashes broke out with members of armed groups; as a result, one of them (a boy) was killed.
In the Gaza Strip, 9 IOF shootings were reported on fishing boats off the Gaza western shores, and 6 other shootings were reported on agricultural lands in eastern Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported.
”
So far in 2022, IOF attacks killed 71 Palestinians, including 53 civilians: 16 children, 5 women (one was journalist Shireen Abu ‘Aqlah), a Palestinian with disability, 2 Palestinians killed by Israeli settler and the rest were activists; 6 of them were assassinated. Also, 998 others were wounded in these attacks, including 115 children, 5 women, and 20 journalists: all in the West Bank, except 15 fishermen in the Gaza Strip. Moreover, a male and female prisoners died in the Israeli jails.
Land razing, demolitions, and notices
IOF demolished 2 houses, rendering a family of 8 persons, including 6 children, homeless. Also, IOF demolished 3 facilities and notified to demolish and cease construction works in 3 other facilities in the West Bank. Details are as follows:
On 01 August 2022, IOF demolished a 160-sqaure-meter house in Kafr ad-Dik village, west of Salfit. It should be noted that the house was ready to live in it.
On 02 August 2022, IOF demolished a 1-story house built on an area of 140 square meters in Sebastia village in Nablus, under the pretext of illegal construction, rendering a family of 8 persons, including 6 children, homeless. Also, IOF demolished two commercial facilities (a cafeteria and a carwash) at the eastern entrance to Bizzariya village, northwest of Nablus. On the same day, IOF demolished a tinplate barrack used for agricultural purposes in southern Hebron, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
On 03 August 2022, IOF notified to stop construction works in a tinplate barrack, to remove an electricity network and to demolish a classroom in Khelet al-Dabi’ school in al-Tawana and Sha’b al-Baten villages in Hebron.
”
Since the beginning of 2022, Israeli occupation forces made 83 families homeless, a total of 479 persons, including 96 women and 239 children. This was the outcome of IOF demolition of 88 houses and 40 residential tents. IOF also demolished 64 other civilian objects, leveled vacant areas of land and delivered dozens of notices of demolition, cease-construction, and evacuation.
IOF incursions and arrests of Palestinian civilians:
IOF carried out 104 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. Those incursions included raids and searches of civilian houses and facilities and establishment of checkpoints. During those incursions, 63 Palestinians were arrested, including a child. Also, on 01 August 2022, IOF conducted widescale arrest campaigns, as at least 32 Palestinians were arrested; most of them were from Hebron. In the Gaza Strip, IOF arrested 2 Palestinians ( a worker and a businessman) from Maghazi refugee camp, while traveling to Israel via Beit Hanoun (Erez) Crossing although both had travel permits. The worker was arrested on 27 July 2022, while the businessman was arrested on 31 July 2022.
”
So far in 2022, IOF conducted 5029 incursions into the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, during which 3050 Palestinians were arrested, including 297 children and 26 women. IOF also conducted 24 limited incursions into eastern Gaza Strip and arrested 74 Palestinians, including 41 fishermen, 28 infiltrators, and 5 travelers via Beit Hanoun “Erez” Crossing.
Israeli collective punishment and closure policy and restrictions on freedom of movement:
Under collective punishment policy, on 02 August 2022, IOF closed Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing for the travel of persons in northern Gaza Strip and the Karm Abu Salem commercial crossing for goods until further notice. Meanwhile, Israeli occupation maintains its illegal and inhuman 15-year closure on the Gaza Strip. Details available in PCHR’s monthly update in the Gaza crossings.
In the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, IOF continues to impose restrictions on the freedom of movement. On top of its 108 permanent checkpoints, IOF established 63 temporary military checkpoints in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem arrested 5 Palestinians at those checkpoints.
”
So far in 2022, IOF established 2626 temporary military checkpoints and arrested 119 Palestinians at those checkpoints
استعراض ود بين “تل أبيب” والرياض. حقوق أفراد وشعوب في مهبّ المصالح الدولية، كيف سارت زيارة الرئيس الأميركي بايدن للمنطقة معاكسةً لاتجاه الخطاب الأميركي المعلَن بشأن حقوق الإنسان والحريات ؟
“المملكة العربية السعودية منبوذة، وستدفع ثمن مقتل الصحافي السعودي، جمال خاشقجي”. ( المتحدثة باسم البيت الأبيض كارين جان بيير ، بتاريخ 2 حزيران/يونيو 2022).
لا يزال صدى تصريح الرئيس الأميركي جو بايدن، حاضراً، عندما تعهَّد أن يجعل السعودية “منبوذة”، ربطاً بجريمة قتل الصحافي جمال خاشقجي، عندما كان على عتبة دخول البيت الأبيض.
تصل المواجهة بين الأطلسي وروسيا إلى حدّ لم يعد بايدن يرى في السعودية إلّا النفط. أمّا جمال خاشقجي، فليس إلّا ملفّاً أُغلِق وطُوِي. وأكثر التصريحات انتقاداً، بحقّ من أثبتت الـcia تورّطه في قتل الصّحافيّ السعودي، طبعتها المجاملة والمناورات الكلامية.
من “تل أبيب” إلى الرياض لم يرَ بايدن أيَّ انتهاكاتٍ لأيّ حقوقٍ، وتجاهلَ كل القضايا التي كانت في سلَّم أولوياته، عندما فاز بالرئاسة. ومن منبوذة أميركياً، بأدلة إدانة جنائية، الى شريكة تجلس إلى الطاولة. هكذا نسف الرئيس الاميركي كل تعهداته أمام حاجته إلى النفط السعودي، وسعيه لحماية “إسرائيل” وأمنها.
عندما قام الرئيس السابق دونالد ترامب بأول زيارة رئاسية له للسعودية، تمّ الترحيب به شخصياً من جانب الملك سلمان. أمّا بايدن فكان في استقباله، في مدرج المطار، حاكم مكة والسفيرة السعودية لدى الولايات المتحدة.
دخل بايدن القصر الملكي يتقدّمه ابن سلمان من دون حديث أو كلام، كما كانت العادة، عند استقبال أي رئيس أو مسؤول عربي أو أجنبي. مشهد عكس برودة العلاقات، التي اضطر الأميركي إلى أن يضعها على نار أزمات المنطقة من جديد. لغة الجسد قد تكون أبلغ من أي كلام. البداية كانت بمصافحة “مترددة”، حفظاً لماء الوجه، بضرب قبضتَي اليدين، بذريعة فيروس “كورونا”، علماً بأن بايدن صافح قادة “إسرائيل”، وعانق مَن قابله بقبضة اليد.
هذا اللقاء كان بايدن قال إنّه لن يحدث. لكن، من الواضح أنه لا بد منه للولايات المتحدة مع مملكة غنية بالنفط، في لحظة تغيّرات جيوسياسية، لم تحقّق من خلالها حتى الآن أي إنجاز في المواجهة مع روسيا في أوكرانيا.
يُشار إلى أنّه، حين سُئل بايدن بشأن خاشقجي، كان جوابه أن ولي العهد السعودي، محمد بن سلمان، وعد بأنه “إذا حدث أي شيء كهذا مرة أخرى، فسيكون هناك رد، وربما أكثر من ذلك كثيراً”؛ أي أن القضية أُقفلت، مع اعتراف ضمني بمسؤولية ابن سلمان عنها.
وتحدّث الرئيس الأميركي في زيارته عن إنجازات في السعودية. لكن، تبقى الملفات الكبرى متعثّرة، ولاسيما مع تأكيد حكومة صنعاء رفضَها سلاماً مُجْتَزَأً. وعلى الصعيد الاقتصادي، يشير موقع “بوليتيكو” إلى أنّ السعودية تواجه صعوبات في تحقيقأهداف إنتاج النفط.
وبين الاستقبال والإنجازات المزعومة، من جهة، وادعاء دفاع الولايات المتحدة عن حقوق الإنسان، من جهة أخرى، يبرز ملف جمال خاشقجي الذي تنكَّر بايدن لكل التعهدات التي رفعها خلال حملته الانتخابية، والقاضية بمحاسبة قتلته، كما تبرز أيضاً “تبرئة” القضاء الأميركي لـ”إسرائيل من جريمة اغتيال الصحافية الشهيدة، شيرين أبو عاقلة. وهذا الأمر يكشف زيف ازدواجية معايير حقوق الإنسان لدى الولايات المتحدة.
تبدو المحاولات الأميركية لإخفاء المبرِّر الحقيقي للزيارة متعثرة للغاية، إذ صرّح بايدن، في مؤتمر صحافي، عقده عقب لقائه قادة دول “الناتو” في قمة مدريد، بأنّ الغرض من زيارته السعودية “ليس الضغط عليها من أجل زيادة إنتاج النفط“. لكنّه أوضح، لدى سؤاله عما إذا كان سيطلب من القادة السعوديين زيادة إنتاج النفط، أنّه “يتعيّن على جميع دول الخليج زيادة إنتاج النفط، بصورة عامة، وليس السعودية على وجه الخصوص”، مشيراً إلى أنّه “يأمل أن تستنتج الدول أنّ ذلك في مصلحتها”.
ونقلت وسائل إعلام إسرائيلية، عن مصادر أميركية، قالت إنها “موثوقة”، أنّ ما يجري الحديث عنه مع زيارة الرئيس الأميركي، جو بايدن، للشرق الأوسط، “لا يتعلق بناتو شرق أوسطي، أو بحلف إسرائيلي عربي”، بل إنّ ما يهم بايدن هو موضوع النفط، و”حاجته إلى السعودية في هذا الأمر”.
ووفقاً لما ورد، فإنّ الغاية من تجاهل قضية خاشقجي، هي تعزيز إنتاج النفط وتقوية النفوذ في المنطقة خوفاً من الدور الروسي الصيني فيها، للحؤول دون نسجهما علاقات بحلفاء أميركا في الشرق الأوسط، وخصوصاً دول الخليج، التي شعرت بالخوف من تراجع اهتمام أميركا بالشرق الأوسط، بعد انسحابها من العراق وأفغانستان.
تسعى الولايات المتحدة الأميركية لاستعادة سيطرتها على موارد الطاقة في الشرق الأوسط، بعد أن أجبرتها الحرب الأوكرانية الروسية على البحث عن مصادر تمويل للطاقة لحلفائها الأوروبيين، الأمر الذي أعاد إلى النفط الخليجي وغاز البحر المتوسط أهميتيهما، بالإضافة إلى العمل على زيادة إنتاج النفط الخليجي مع خفض أسعاره، من أجل خلق استقرار في سوق الطاقة، حتى لا يتأثر الاقتصاد الأميركي، الذي يعاني حالة غير مسبوقة من التضخم المالي.
تداعيات داخلية أميركية
تعيد الولايات المتحدة الأميركية ترميم علاقتها بحلفائها، وخصوصاً السعودية، تحت شعار “المصالح الأميركية فوق المبادئ الإنسانية”. وتبرز تداعيات داخلية أميركية لمشهد زيارة بايدن للسعودية على موضوع التضخم وأسعار الطاقة، بسبب الرغبة الأميركية في زيادة إيرادات الطاقة للسوق العالمية، في ظل العقوبات على الطاقة الروسية. وبحسب المعلومات المتخصصة، فإنّ الطاقة، التي تستطيع السعودية إنتاجها وضخها، لن تكون قادرة على تعديل ميزان القوة، أو تغيير ميزان السوق.
وأثارت زيارة الرئيس الأميركي، جو بايدن، للسعودية، حالة من الانقسام في الولايات المتحدة، محورها ملفات حقوق الإنسان في المملكة، وفق تحليل لمجلة “فورين أفيرز”. وبعد الزيارة، ظهرت في الداخل الأميركي “انتقادات وسخرية” لأداء بايدن خلال الزيارة. ووفقاً للمعطيات، فإن ترجمة هذه الزيارة، عبر تحسين الوضع الاقتصادي داخل أميركا، مسألة “مشكوك فيها”.
ويرى مؤيدو زيارة بايدن للسعودية أن مصلحة الولايات المتحدة وميزان القوى في الشرق الأوسط يتطلبان علاقات أميركية سعودية استراتيجية، بعيداً عن حقوق الإنسان. والأولوية للمصالح الأميركية في الشرق الأوسط، والتي تتطلب “علاقة استراتيجية بالسعوديين”، في حين يصر المعارضون، وبينهم ديمقراطيون وأيضاً جمهوريون، على ضرورة أن تحسن الرياض سجلها فيما يتعلق بحقوق الإنسان في البلاد.
وعلى الرغم من الاختلاف الداخلي، فإن بايدن حاول تسويق الزيارة على أنها زيارة المصالح، وليست تنازلاً عن تعهداته، أو تفريطاً بحقوق الإنسان، حين سأله أحد الصحافيين في جدة عن رسالته لخطيبة خاشقجي، قال: “لم أحضر إلى هنا كي أقابل ولي العهد. جئت لأقابل مجلس التعاون الخليجي”. وعلى الرغم من ذلك، فإن مسؤولين أميركيين قالوا إنه “ليس من المتوقع صدور أي إعلان رئيس بشأن زيادة إمدادات النفط خلال هذه الزيارة”.
بايدن، القادم من فلسطين المحتلة، كان كتب في افتتاحية “واشنطن بوست” أن الحريات الأساسية هي دائماً في أجندته، خلال سفراته الخارجية، كما ستكون خلال هذه الجولة وفي “إسرائيل” والضفة الغربية. وفي كلامه هذا تبرئة للإسرائيليين عن كل انتهاكات حقوق الفلسطينيين وجرائم القتل والأسر والتمييز العنصري وسرقة الأراضي والاستيطان.
وبحسب مصادر فلسطينية، فإن بايدن لم ينجز أي شيء من زيارته لبيت لحم، ولم يحقق أي أهداف له، وخصوصاً أن الرفض الشعبي الفلسطيني الداخلي لزيارته كان واضحاً من خلال التظاهرات التي نددت بمجيئه.
الصحافيون، خلال مؤتمر بايدن الصحافي في بيت لحم، ارتدوا قمصاناً عليها صورة الشهيدة شيرين أبو عاقلة، بحيث إن سلوك القضاء الأميركي تجاه الجريمة أضاف رصيداً آخر لمسار التجاهل للقضايا الحقوقية الكبرى.
هكذا باتت حقوق الإنسان ثمناً لملء النقص في النفط وتعزيز النفوذ ومحاولة تسجيل النقاط في الصراعات الدولية، من أجل المصلحة الكبرى للولايات المتحدة، ومن أجل حسابات خاصة ببايدن في الداخل الأميركي.
US President Joe Biden claimed that he confronted Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman [MBS] over the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting the royal was personally responsible for the killing.
Speaking to reporters following a sit-down with bin Salman on Friday, Biden said he raised the issue “at the top of the meeting” and made his stance “crystal clear.”
“I said very straightforwardly: For an American president to be silent on an issue of human rights, is this consistent with – inconsistent with who we are and who I am? I’ll always stand up for our values,” he said.
While, according to Biden, the prince denied any direct part in Khashoggi’s murder – which took place in a Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey in October 2018 – the US president went on to say he “indicated that [bin Salman] probably was” involved after all.
Asked about recent comments from Khashoggi’s widow, who said “the blood of MBS’s next victim is on [Biden’s] hands,” he simply replied: “I’m sorry she feels that way,” going on to say he does not regret dubbing the prince a “pariah” during the 2020 presidential race.
“Do I regret it? I don’t regret anything that I said. What happened to Khashoggi was outrageous,” he added.
The president has come under fire for continuing the close US-Saudi relationship despite repeated claims of rights abuses within the Gulf monarchy, chief among them Khashoggi’s assassination, which the CIA concluded was ordered by Mohammed bin Salman himself.
Upon his arrival at Al Salman Palace, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Friday, Biden was photographed giving a friendly fist-bump to the prince, a gesture harshly condemned by Khashoggi’s former fiancée.
“Hey POTUS, is this the accountability you promised for my murder?” she wrote, apparently speaking from the perspective of her late spouse, while also sharing a photo of the fist-bump.
However, Biden insisted the purpose of his trip to Saudi Arabia was not to see with the prince, but rather “to meet with the [Gulf Cooperation Council] and nine nations to deal with the security… and the needs of the free world.”
He made a similar argument in a recent Washington Post op-ed ahead of his travels, where he outlined a variety of reasons to visit the kingdom, including regional security, rising gas prices, Russia’s “aggression” in Ukraine and competition with China.
Before 2019, never had a US president referred to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a ‘pariah’ on his campaign trail. Joe Biden’s Saudi-bashing as a presidential candidate, plus a host of other delicate issues, have fueled significant friction between the White House and Riyadh.
Today, relations between the US and Saudi Arabia are probably at their worst since the events of September 11, 2001, stymied by a major trust deficit in the relationship between Biden’s White House and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS).
By the same token, the Biden administration views Saudi Arabia as a critical partner in the Persian Gulf and continues to sign massive arms deals with the kingdom.
For all the rhetoric on Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose brutal murder MbS is said to have sanctioned, team Biden never imposed state-level sanctions against Saudi Arabia, nor on the crown prince himself.
Meanwhile, the administration praises the role of Riyadh in the Arab world’s trend toward normalization with Israel.
Within this context, Biden’s first presidential trip to West Asia – in which he will go to Israel, the occupied West Bank, and Saudi Arabia this week – will be important to White House efforts to mend fences with Riyadh and salvage this decades-old partnership.
In a US mid-term election year that will likely lead to significant gains for his Republican opposition, Biden seeks to score major foreign policy points in Jeddah that can be used for domestic consumption back in Washington this summer.
Incentivizing Biden to convince the Saudis to increase their oil production are the millions of US motorists struggling with high gas prices and the many average American voters grappling with generational high inflation.
Energy prices are therefore extremely important to Biden’s controversial trip to the kingdom. Yet, this month’s summit in Saudi Arabia is unlikely to give Americans much relief at the gas pump between now and the elections in November.
Shifting the narrative from oil to peace
Determined to ensure that the US public does not tie this tour’s success specifically to a Saudi oil production hike – which could easily result in the Biden administration’s humiliation – the White House message is that this visit to Jeddah largely concerns peace in the region.
As Biden wrote in the Washington Post, avoiding a future in which the region is “coming apart through conflict” is of “paramount importance” to the White House, and he will “pursue diplomacy intensely – including through face-to-face meetings – to achieve our goals.”
According to Biden, if the region comes together through “diplomacy and cooperation” there is a lower chance of “violent extremism” threatening US national security or “new wars that could place new burdens on US military forces and their families.”
This trip comes at a time in which there is a fragile truce in Yemen, where the Saudis and Emiratis have waged a devastating seven-year war. Although the conflict remains unresolved, the drastic reduction in violence and increased humanitarian assistance to the war-torn country have given millions of Yemenis desperately needed relief.
The truce in Yemen has been possible in part because of Saudi and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member support, which makes it easier for Biden to justify his visit to Jeddah. After all, it was the Khashoggi affair and the conflict in Yemen that ‘Biden-the-candidate’ cited as reasons for his ‘pariah’ treatment of Riyadh.
Thus, moving toward a settlement to this conflict, in which the last two US presidents were heavily involved in escalating, helps Biden save face as he makes this trip. If the president leaves the kingdom with some guarantees from the Saudis about their commitment to future truce extensions, that could be interpreted as a win for Biden.
“The US administration is beginning to realize that President Biden can’t just ignore Saudi Arabia and that it’s in the best interest of the two countries to start working together, not just to reduce oil prices and pressure on US consumers, but also to further the stability of the Middle East and contain [the Iranian] threat whether in Lebanon or Yemen,” Najah Al-Otaibi, an associate fellow at the Riyadh-based King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, said in an interview with The Cradle.
Expanding on her point, Al-Otaibi said that “Saudi Arabia has recently agreed to extend the United Nations-mediated ceasefire with Yemen, and Prince Mohammed [bin Salman] played a critical role in this move, according to Biden’s officials who thought it is a step forward to solving the conflict.”
Last month, Biden clarified that, for him, bolstering Israel’s security was a major motivation for the trip to Saudi Arabia. Despite some speculation among pundits that Saudi Arabia will soon join the Abraham Accords, this is highly doubtful, especially with King Salman still on the throne. However, with MbS “the reformer” as future king, normalization between “the Land of the Two Holy Mosques” and Israel is all the more likely.
Insecurity and an ‘Arab NATO’
Even if Riyadh remains outside the Abraham Accords, there is much that Saudi Arabia can do to make it easier for other Arab-Muslim countries to normalize with Tel Aviv, and for the kingdom’s allies, already signatories to the Abraham Accords, to build on their overt relations with the Israelis.
While in Jeddah, Biden will likely push the Saudis to take some more baby steps toward a de facto normalization with Israel, even if it remains unofficial. One way for the kingdom to do so would be by granting permission for Israeli planes to transit Saudi airspace on their way to the UAE, Bahrain, and other countries.
Other avenues could include bolstering involvement by Israeli technology firms in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, Saudi–Israeli military cooperation, and more visits by high-ranking Israeli officials to the kingdom that could build on former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s November 2020 visit to Neom.
Shoring up US–Arab partnerships in preparation for the increasingly likely scenario that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) talks with Iran will collapse in acrimony is a high priority for Biden.
Against the backdrop of Iran’s nuclear advancements as negotiations further stall, Saudi Arabia and the other Arab states attending the GCC+3 summit are preparing for a post-JCPOA future in which friction between the US and Israel, on one side, and the Islamic Republic, on the other, appears set to intensify in the coming weeks and months.
“I think Iran, not oil, is the main issue as Iran moves closer and closer to having all the parts it needs to put together a nuclear bomb,” David Ottaway, a Middle East fellow at the Wilson Center, told The Cradle. “Only a revival of the Iranian nuclear deal can stop that trend, and nobody is optimistic about that happening now.”
Although Riyadh and Tehran have been in direct talks via Baghdad since April 2021, the Saudi leadership wants assurances from team Biden that Washington remains committed to the kingdom’s security regardless of the fate of the 2015 nuclear accord, and that the US will work with its Arab allies to counter Iran in regional hotspots, such as Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
Yet, mindful of the little trust Saudi officials have in the Biden administration, it is difficult to imagine the US president gaining enough confidence from Riyadh during this upcoming trip vis-à-vis Iran-related issues. As Ottaway told The Cradle:
“I suspect [Biden] will declare another US commitment to defending the kingdom from its foreign enemies, but after Trump’s failure to take any action after Iranian attacks on Saudi oil facilities in 2019, he needs to say or do something to back up [what are] just words.”
In recent weeks, there has been much discussion about an Arab NATO that includes Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other US-friendly Arab states. Biden will seek to advance this initiative as the west and its allies and partners in West Asia remain worried about Iran’s regional foreign policy agenda.
“[Biden] wishes to reaffirm the historical strength and enduring reciprocity of the alliance, but also to press Riyadh on cooperating more on the energy side – particularly as the US moves as well to create a region-wide defense platform, the so-called Middle East NATO,” Sean Yom, an associate professor at Temple University, pointed out in an interview with The Cradle.
“There is, however, one sticking point that will probably cause a difference: the Saudis continue to desire a strong US presence in the Gulf, one that can police Iran and intervene in a potential militarized conflict, whereas Biden clearly is continuing his predecessors’ anti-interventionist stance,” added Yom.
Nonetheless, many experts have doubts about an Arab NATO ever manifesting into a real alliance, and expect the initiative to remain merely conceptual. This assessment accounts for the opposition of some Arab states to an open military coordination with Israel, as some GCC states, like the Sultanate of Oman, do not want to join an alliance aimed at weakening or intimidating Tehran.
There are also logistical hurdles which would make it difficult for these state militaries to integrate in a NATO-like manner.
“Biden’s plan for a US-backed ‘Arab NATO’ of GCC states plus Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan seems as unlikely to succeed as Trump’s Middle East Strategic Alliance, which never got off the ground,” Ottaway says.
Virtue-signalling human rights
Although Biden’s administration has determined that the moral costs of this presidential trip do not outweigh the perceived benefits, the Khashoggi affair remains a delicate issue – though significantly less so now than in the immediate aftermath of the grisly murder in October 2018.
MbS wants the US government to drop the Khashoggi issue, but elements within Biden’s party maintain that any interaction between him and the crown prince would be “profoundly disturbing.” To placate more progressive politicians, high-profile media pundits, and human rights activists who criticize Biden for “legitimizing” MbS on this trip, the president will seek some human rights concessions, like those which his administration secured at the start of his presidency.
If Biden is successful on this front, he could return to the US claiming that his visit to the kingdom helped advance, rather than hinder, the cause of human rights. Such an achievement would help Biden save face and tell his base that he did not abandon certain principles or so-called ‘American values’ by meeting MbS in the Saudi kingdom.
“His campaign trail rhetoric, like all political campaign rhetoric, was never going to bear much resemblance to executive policy and official diplomacy,” cautioned Yom. “But I do think Biden will exit the meetings by claiming that he squarely put human rights concerns, and potentially even democratic awareness, onto the agenda for Riyadh.”
Yet, whether the Saudi leadership feels it is under sufficient pressure to release any political prisoners, or provide liberties to some recently released Saudis who are banned from traveling, remains to be seen.
From the perspective of the Saudi government, the US and other western governments are inappropriately virtue signaling when raising human rights concerns in the kingdom. The view from Riyadh is that these issues are internal issues that do not concern Washington or European capitals.
Saudi and other Arab officials will often point to US sins in Iraq or police brutality against African-Americans to highlight elements of hypocrisy on the part of US politicians lecturing the Saudi government on the human rights front.
MbS reportedly “shouting” at US national security adviser Jake Sullivan after the high-ranking official brought up the Khashoggi case underscores the effect of these discussions on the leaders of Saudi Arabia.
The grander geopolitical picture
Biden will visit Saudi Arabia amid a period of increasing east–west bifurcation and intensifying great power competition. Although neither China nor Russia is on the verge of replacing the US as security guarantor of Saudi Arabia or any GCC states, US influence in the Gulf has declined with Beijing and Moscow gaining greater clout at Washington’s expense.
Biden’s trip to Jeddah aims to reassert US influence in the Persian Gulf and attempt to prevent Riyadh and other Arab capitals from moving closer to the Chinese and Russians. An objective of Biden’s is to bring GCC states back into the geopolitical orbit of the west, while slowing down the growth of their partnerships with Beijing and Moscow.
“There were undeniable hiccups in the relationship last year, relating to halting support to the Yemen war, aggressive rhetoric against MbS, and more scrutiny on arms sales,” Yom explained.
“Fundamentally, none of these factors perturbed the great structural core of the US–Saudi alliance, built upon mutual perceptions of energy security, sovereign protections, and regional hegemony. But those hiccups were enough to make the decision-making circles in Riyadh a bit uncomfortable, enough at least to entertain Russian and Chinese overtures for military and energy cooperation.”
The White House and the entire US foreign policy establishment have grave concerns about Sino–Saudi ballistic missile cooperation and the extent to which the Chinese and Emiratis are making their defense and security relations more robust.
It is safe to say that while in Jeddah, team Biden will make it clear that the US will withhold future military assistance if GCC states move militarily closer to China. The extent to which such pressure has any impact on Riyadh and Abu Dhabi’s relationships with Beijing remains an open question.
Nonetheless, team Biden must understand that this visit will occur against the backdrop of serious tensions between the US and Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has grown frustrated with many aspects of Washington’s agenda in the Biden era.
The Saudi government’s view is that Biden is an ’Obama 2.0’ – a perspective that is not unreasonable when mindful of how many Obama administration veterans, including Biden himself, are serving in the White House.
By moving closer to China and Russia, the Saudis are sending a message, loud and clear, to Washington that Riyadh has other options on the international stage as the world moves towards multipolarity with more Arab statesmen perceiving the US as a power that is withdrawing from West Asia.
Riyadh can exaggerate the extent to which the kingdom has grown closer to Beijing and Moscow to gain leverage over the US and secure more concessions from Washington. That is likely to continue, and Biden would be making a mistake in placating the Saudis in every instance to merely try to stop Riyadh from tilting closer to China and Russia.
Simultaneously, Saudi Arabia is showing itself to be increasingly confident and Biden’s visit to the kingdom will add to Riyadh’s sense of being emboldened, giving the Saudi leadership more reason to pursue its own interests in ways that sometimes align more closely with Beijing and Moscow’s foreign policy objectives than those of western powers.
Despite these geopolitical tensions, the Biden administration and Al-Saud rulers both value Washington and Riyadh’s decades-old partnership, and neither side wants to abandon it. Much anger and a significant trust deficit, however, have built up between these two countries.
Biden will not be leaving Saudi Arabia later this month with all these issues resolved. But the dialogue in Jeddah has the potential to begin a process of mending fences.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.
UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 