Editor
There is no shortage of people who might want to kill him. They all have perfectly legitimate reasons to dispatch him to the other side. So, what has the Saudi upstart done lately to be in such panic about his safety that he has had to say publicly he is “scared”?
He claims that he is putting his life in danger by pursuing a ‘grand bargain’ with the US and Israel that includes normalizing ties with the zionist entity. He has even invoked the name of Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian tyrant who was gunned down during a military parade on October 6, 1981 for his surrender to the zionists.
There are good reasons for MbS to be scared. He has made many enemies since he was elevated to the position of crown prince by his ailing demented father, Salman bin Abdul Aziz in 2017. Within the Bani Saud clan, there is no shortage of people that would like to thrust a curved dagger into his protruding belly and twist it many times over to ensure his intestines are completely cut before pulling it out, guts and all.
It is not difficult to identify his enemies within the Bani Saud clan. These include his cousins from the Abdullah and Nayef families as well as his uncles Muqrim and Ahmed. MbS has not only humiliated them but also imprisoned some where they are being torture.
And then there is the religious establishment. The crown prince has sidelined them breaking the compact that the founder of the Saudi dynasty had struck with Mohammad ibn Abdul Wahhab back in 1744. In return for providing them a religious crutch, the Bani Saud allowed the Wahhabi zealots to have absolute sway over religious matters. For decades after the Bani Saud grabbed power in the Arabian Peninsula, especially in the Hijaz (home to Makkah and al-Madinah), it was the Wahhabi literalists that determined acceptable and unacceptable behavior. They denounced anyone not subscribing to their narrow interpretation of Islam as ‘kafirs’.
MbS has relegated Wahhabism to the background and replaced it with vulgarity and nudity. While few would lament the downgrading of Wahhabism, the swing to the other extreme—vulgarity—is hard for some people to digest. Is there nothing in-between Wahhabism and vulgarity?
On the political front, MbS has been absolutely ruthless. This is the case with most autocrats. Lacking popular support, all opponents, real or imagined, have to be crushed. MbS is no exception. He has clamped down hard on political dissent.
Jamal Khashoggi’s case illustrates this point. A former insider, he fell out with the regime and settled in the US. He wrote periodic columns for the Washington Post exposing the regime’s criminal conduct. This was a red line MbS could not tolerate.
Khashoggi was lured to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018. A death squad sent from Saudi Arabia is believed to have strangled him to death, chopped his body into pieces and then dissolved it in acid, according to most credible accounts. No trace of Khashoggi’s body has been found. After carrying out the gruesome act, the death squad returned home the same day.
If MbS could carry out such gruesome acts abroad and get away with it, what he must be doing to dissidents at home? His head choppers have been working overtime. Even minors have not been spared.
The latest challenge to Bani Saud rule emerged with the zionist onslaught on Gaza last October. To cope with this challenge, the Saudi regime has banned any mention of Palestine or even wearing the keffiyeh, the Palestinian checkered scarf. Muslims performing Umrah or Hajj have been harassed and/or arrested for wearing it. Such restrictions have not gone down well with many Saudis, even those that are largely apolitical.
There is no doubt that MbS’ anti-Palestinian policies have antagonized a large segment of his own population, not to mention the nearly two billion Muslims worldwide. So, how does he plan to address the concerns of his people, if he is truly interested in doing something for the Palestinians?
He has repeated the old Saudi mantra that there should be a ‘true path’ to a Palestinian state. Keen observers would note that MbS is not asking for the establishment of a Palestinian state; merely a “true path to it”, whatever that means.
Palestine is now the top issue in the region, indeed, the dominant theme in global discourse, following Hamas’s daring operation of October 7, 2023. People in West Asia have recoiled in horror at zionist barbarism and its ongoing genocide of innocent Palestinians. On the streets of Arab capitals, there is heightened fury directed at Israel.
While MbS does not care for public sentiment—the Bani Saud clan does not allow the public any say in formulating policy—he is afraid that without mentioning Palestine, he would be an easy target for public wrath. This could easily result in someone attempting to kill him even if the consequences for the assailant would be grave.
In practical terms, there is little chance that any ordinary Saudi would get anywhere near him. MbS lives in a tight security cordon. He does not mingle with the public.
The real threat will likely come from his own security detail. After all, they also see the horrors the zionists are inflicting on the Palestinians. Regardless of how callous MbS’ security personnel may be, it cannot be ruled out that even among them, there may be people who feel empathy for the Palestinians. They may take action against MbS if he moves toward normalizing relations with the zionist entity.
It must be borne in mind that prior to Hamas launching its operation on October 7, MbS was hurtling toward normalizing relations with Israel. The US eagerly promoted this. American officials made a beeline to Riyadh and Jeddah to sweet-talk MbS into establishing relations with the zionist entity. He did not need much persuasion. Afraid of even his own shadow, MbS has been looking for some security to enable him to continue his hold on power.
He believes the zionist entity, supposedly the strongest in the region, would provide him such security. The zionist intelligence agency, Mossad, has its tentacles spread in the region. Israel also has a formidable army although its limitations have been exposed since last October.
Establishing relations with the zionist entity, however, is a major undertaking. It would expose the regime, as well as MbS personally to grave risks. So, he has his conditions for taking the plunge.
He wants US security guarantees for the regime headed by him incorporated into a treaty, help with a civilian nuclear program and economic investment in areas such as technology. Some reports have even suggested that if the US agreed to these terms, the Saudi regime would limit its dealings with China. This, however, appears more like an American wish than a Saudi commitment.
If the Saudis were to establish relations with Israel, it will open up other Muslim countries to zionist penetration. The Saudis fancy themselves as ‘leaders’ of the Muslim world, a dubious claim at best, but nonetheless believed by the Saudis.
In the Muslim world, Kemalist Turkey was the first to recognize the zionist entity followed by the Shah’s regime in Iran. With the victory of the Islamic revolution, the zionists were expelled from Tehran and diplomatic ties cut off.
Egyptian and Jordanian regimes established relations in 1978 and 1994 respectively although the masses in neither country have not accepted zionist presence in their midst. Two bit-players Bahrain and the UAE as well as Morocco have also established relations in what is erroneously called the ‘Abraham Accords.’
The UAE and Bahrain were trial balloons for Saudi Arabia and nearly succeeded but for Hamas’ daring operation of October 2023. It slowed the normalization process but as recent events have indicated, never completely abandoned. MbS is trying to extract maximum benefit for his treachery.
Unfortunately for MbS, Benjamin Netanyahu has already shut the door on the possibility of a future Palestinian state (see also here). No amount of Saudi grovelling will alter that reality. The zionist entity will have to be defeated and dismantled. That day is not far off, insha’Allah.
No comments:
Post a Comment