Saudi Arabia has insisted that there is no problem between its government and the Muslim Brotherhood, Saudi’s Al-Jazeera newspaper reported yesterday. “There is no problem between the kingdom and the movement,” Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal told journalists. “The problem is only with those who are adherents of its Supreme Guide.”
During the reign of the late King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia designated the Brotherhood as a “terrorist organisation”. Abdullah’s government had helped to oust elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who was a senior member of what is the largest Islamist movement in the world.
Observers have noticed a slight shift in Saudi policy towards Egypt since the death of King Abdullah last month. A few days ago, Rassd media reported a verbal attack launched by Coptic activist Majdi Khalil, who supports the military coup in Egypt, against Saudi Arabia and its new king. He said that the kingdom would “vanish” if it did not pay money for Egypt.
According to Saudi newspaper Al-Riyad, since the military coup that brought Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to power in Cairo, the Saudi government has bankrolled Egypt, with $8.6 billion handed over in 2014 alone.
The Egyptian Observer for Human Rights and Freedoms has previously quoted informed sources in Saudi Arabia who say that there is anger among Saudi princes due to the level of support given by the kingdom to the military coup in Egypt.