Chairperson Joe Biden Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA says likely ordered the 2018 brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.
Biden’s warm gesture to Bin Salman as the president exited the limousine ahead of their meeting in Saudi Arabia, a sit-down the president previously vowed would not happen.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman holds hands with US President Joe Biden as he arrives at Al Salman Palace, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 15, 2022.
Bandar Algaloud | Courtesy of the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia | via Reuters
“I’m not going to see MBS,” Biden said last month. “I’m going to an international meeting, and he’s going to be a part of it.”
Biden personally shook hands with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the crown prince’s father, on Friday.
Biden promised during his 2020 presidential campaign to make the Saudi government “pay the price and make them people like them”.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz receives US President Joe Biden at Al Salman Palace on his arrival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 15, 2022.
Bandar Algaloud | Royal Court of Saudi Arabia | via Reuters
As the meeting was set to begin on Friday, NBC reporter Peter Alexander shouted at Bin Salman, “Jamal Khasoggi, do you apologize to his family?”
A Saudi aide then grabbed Alexander’s arm, the reporter tweeted. Alexander added that “MBS had a slight smile” on his face after he asked the question.
Even before confronting the suspected mastermind of Khashoggi’s murder, Biden had faced criticism for even traveling to oil-rich Saudi Arabia.
“We feel betrayed,” said Abdullah Alaoudh, leader of the US-based Congress Party, a Saudi opposition group, told NBC News earlier this week. “We were promised protection from MBS.”
Alaoudh on Monday said that Biden’s visit could help the crown prince “get away with murder”.
Bin Salman has denied involvement in the October 2, 2018 brutal murder of Saudi citizen Khashoggi at the country’s Istanbul consulate by a group of intelligence agents with connections to the prince.
US officials say Khashoggi’s body was dismembered with a bone saw.
“Absolutely not,” Bin Salman told CBS News’ “60 Minutes” when asked if he ordered the killing.
“This is a heinous crime,” he said in that interview. “But I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia, especially since it is committed by individuals working for the Saudi government.”
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R) participates in a working session with US President Joe Biden (3-L) at Al Salam Royal Palace in Saudi Arabia’s coastal city of Jeddah, on May 15 7 year 2022.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | beautiful pictures
While the Saudi government at first denied any involvement in the murder, then claimed that the intelligence team had accidentally killed him while trying to extradite him against his will to Saudi Arabia.
Before being killed, Khashoggi was living in exile in the United States so that he could write without the risk of being jailed in his home country.
Biden was published last week an op-ed on The Washington Post – Khashoggi’s newspaper – justifies the visit to Saudi Arabia.
“From the outset, my aim was to reorient – but not disrupt – relations with a country that has been a strategic partner for 80 years,” Biden wrote in that article, referring to the journalist’s name. were killed.
“I know that there are many people who disagree with my decision to come to Saudi Arabia,” the president wrote. “My views on human rights are clear and age-old, and fundamental freedoms are always on the agenda when I travel abroad, as they will be on this trip, just as they are. will be in Israel and the West Bank.”
