Comment on this story
Comment
JERUSALEM – President Biden defended his decision to meet with the Saudi Crown Prince who orchestrated the assassination and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying the Saudis should be involved in any efforts to stabilize a volatile region.
Biden made the statement during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on the second day of a five-day trip to the Middle East.
“My views on Khashoggi have been absolutely, positively clear and I have never been silent talking about human rights,” he said in response to a question. “The reason I’m going to Saudi Arabia is to promote the interests of the United States in a way that I think we have a chance to reaffirm our influence in the Middle East.”
Analysis: Two murders haunt Biden’s journey to the Middle East
Biden also said the alienation of the Saudis would contribute to a leadership vacuum and added “I always mention human rights,” although he never explicitly said he would raise the assassination of Khashoggi.
“There are so many issues at stake, I want to make sure we can continue to lead the region and not create a gap, a gap that fills both Russia and China,” he said.
U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia who is widely referred to by his initials MBS, ordered the 2018 assassination of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist.
The assassination was widely condemned, including by Biden during the campaign where he publicly promised that Saudi Arabia would be an outcast. He expressed deep reservations to the aides about the meeting with Mohammed and said the country’s government has “very little social redemptive value”.
In June, he said, “I will not meet with MBS.”
Since then, the White House has confirmed the meeting with MBS, saying Biden will meet with the Crown Prince as part of a bilateral meeting with Saudi King Salman and the country’s broadest leadership team.
During a meeting with Lapid earlier in the day on Thursday, Biden spoke of the collaboration needed to stabilize the region and ensure that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon.
“This is a vital security interest for both Israel and the United States and I would also add for the rest of the world,” he said.
He said it would be the main message of his meeting with the Saudis.
“When I see the Saudi leadership tomorrow, I will carry a direct message,” Biden said. “A message of peace and of the extraordinary opportunities that a more stable integrated region could bring to the region and, frankly, to the rest of the world.”
Still, his decision to share space with MBS has been a lightning rod. Khashoggi’s girlfriend, Hatice Cengiz, condemned Biden’s visit.
“You can imagine how surprised and disappointed I was to learn that you would break your promise and travel to Saudi Arabia to probably meet the Crown Prince, the person that American intelligence determined was the person responsible for ordering Jamal’s murder, ”he wrote in an op. -edited in The Washington Post.
“You condemn Russia for persecuting dissidents and committing war crimes in Ukraine. But the Saudis are carrying out the same horrific human rights abuses. Why are they being given a pass? Is that the price of oil?”
Washington Post editor Fred Ryan rebuked Biden for “going to Jiddah on his knees to give his blood-stained hand to the ‘pariah’.”
Ryan wrote that the meeting “will indicate that US stocks are negotiable” and that Biden “is turning a blind eye to Jamal’s assassination in an effort to cut gasoline prices ahead of its midterm deadlines.” autumn “.
Biden had to limit handshakes on this trip. He has trouble doing it.
Questions about the tense meeting even overshadowed the first segment of Biden’s trip, when he made his tenth visit to Israel and left Air Force One offering punches instead of handshakes.
The White House defended itself from criticism that the new presidential protocol that prevented handshakes was less about protecting the president from the coronavirus and more about gracefully avoiding the optics of a handshake between MBS and Biden.