Former Saudi minister says violence unacceptable even in Israel

Former Saudi Justice Minister, Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, has denounced violence including in Israel, Israeli Ma’ariv newspaper reported yesterday.

“Any act of violence or terrorism that tries to hide behind the religion of Islam has no justification, not even in Israel,” the newspaper quoted Al-Issa as saying.

Maariv said the remarks by Al-Issa, who serves as the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, was an attempt to “remove from Saudi Arabia the image of the state sponsor of terrorism and extremist Islamic organisations, such as a Daesh”.

“Since his appointment as president of the Muslim World League, Al-Issa has been spreading a new image for moderate Saudi Islam as a religion which seeks peace, tolerance and openness to the world and other religions,” the paper added.

The newspaper said the Saudi official intends to meet with the Chief Rabbi of France, and participate in a similar meeting in the United States with different Jewish communities.

Read: The myth of an Israel-Saudi alliance

Saudi news agency, Elaph which is close to the decision-making circles in Riyadh, published a few days ago an interview with the Israeli army chief of staff, Gadi Eisenkot, which was described by Israeli sources as a new step by Saudi Arabia to bring relations with Israel to the public.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, Israeli Energy Minister, Yuval Steinitz revealed that Israel maintains secret relations with Saudi Arabia and Sunni Arab countries in the region, adding that the Arab side prefers to maintain the confidentiality of these relations and Israel respects this.

Saudi watches as Gaza burns – Cartoon [MiddleEastMonitor]