Bin Salman’s declaration about Israel’s ‘right’ to the land is no surprise

One hundred years after the disastrous Balfour Declaration, in which the British government lent its support to the campaign for a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, the adolescent aspirant to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, has affirmed this “right”. He added that the land belonged to the current generation’s forefathers, so they have the right to live there in peace and safety.

Bin Salman has also mentioned the possibility of future diplomatic and economic relations between the Kingdom and the self-declared Jewish state. “Israel is a big economy compared to their [sic] size,” he told The Atlantic, “and it’s a growing economy, and of course there are a lot of interests we share with Israel and if there is peace, there would be a lot of interest between Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.”

He displayed his good faith before a trip to America by allowing flights to Israel from India to fly through Saudi airspace. This may explain why Saudi Arabia played the role of proxy in the Tiran and Sanafir islands deal with Egypt to serve Israel’s interests, as the latter can engage in direct relations with countries that go beyond joint coordination on maritime borders and reach the level of a publically announced economic cooperation partnership.

The Crown Prince’s statements clear up any suspicion or doubt about where he stands (and with whom), and serve to confirm the reports exposing security cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and high-level meetings by officials. Furthermore, he is known now to have made a visit to Israel (a move which is still surrounded by controversy) in order to submit his credentials to take over the Saudi throne.

Perhaps more dangerous than Bin Salman’s recognition of the Israeli entity is his classification of the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, as a terrorist organisation, despite the fact that the movement is a source of pride and honour for the Palestinians and only resists the occupation of their land, and nothing else. He has not condemned as terrorism Israel’s killing of more than 25 Palestinians and the wounding of more than 3,000 others in the peaceful Great March of Return. Instead, amid the violence, he said that Saudi Arabia and Israel are facing a common enemy.

This young man who longs to become King is paying for his place on the throne with the blood of the Muslim Brotherhood when he claims that the movement is the enemy of Saudi Arabia. He even went as far as saying that the Brotherhood has been the greatest danger in the world over the past 100 years in his interview with Time magazine; in his worldview it seeks to turn Europe into a Brotherhood continent within the next 30 years.

In trying to turn the whole world against the Muslim Brotherhood, he is actually turning the world against Islam itself. Egypt’s Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi did the same thing before him, when he said at a celebration of the Prophet’s birth, “It is inconceivable that 1.6 billion Muslims would kill the world’s population of 7 billion so that they could live on their own.”

#DealOfCentury

I was not wrong when I was amongst the first to say that the core of Al-Sisi’s “war on terror” is actually a war against Islam. I also said that a shiny banner was raised in order for the people to rally behind this war; unfortunately, so as not to provoke the Muslims of the world, it was spearheaded by the Arab rulers. This began early on, in 2001, when the US invaded Afghanistan after the bombing of the Twin Towers in New York, which was used as a pretext for the invasion.

This was followed by the invasion of Iraq, facilitated by the Gulf States, as they opened their airspace to allow fighter jets to pass over and allowed foreign navies to use the Suez Canal and American ground troops to desecrate Iraqi territories from surrounding Arab land. This includes Kuwait, whose own Crown Prince boasts unashamedly that his country was a tool in the hands of America, used to carry out its evil plans against the Muslims in Afghanistan.

The American master that they are working for is the one who ordered them to spread Wahhabi ideology in Muslim countries and to call for Jihad against the Russian atheists in Afghanistan. This master also ordered them to embrace the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt during the 1960s in order to form a force against Gamal Abdel Nasser and the expansion of the Soviet Union and communism in the area.

Read: Bin Salman is heading to the Saudi throne along an Israeli path

Ultimately, Mohammad Bin Salman needs to showcase himself to his US master in order to be given the throne. He therefore wants to be seen as a liberal, open to the West and its concepts and values. He wants to be seen as being able to speak like them. For this, his tongue has become Hebrew and his heart and mind have become Zionist.

As such, it is nothing strange to see Israeli media outlets celebrating and praising his statements. “Finally,” wrote Israeli writer Zvi Bar’el in Haaretz, “after more than a century since the Balfour Declaration, a leading member of the Saudi royal family has framed the rights of the Jews to a state in almost the same words as the British foreign minister’s statement of 1917. In a lengthy interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, which was published on Monday, Prince Mohammad said that both ‘the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land’.”

He added that Saudi Arabia still carries great weight in shaping pro-Western policies in the Middle East. “And if need be, it can wrestle quite a few Arab and Western arms.”

Bar’el notes that, “As the crown prince himself concedes, when the two countries have shared interests, it would not be superfluous to also examine the nature of the cooperation between the two countries in terms of the hostility they share toward Iran. It appears that Saudi Arabia has no problem cooperating with Israel even without signing a peace treaty with it.”

“Is the Saudi Crown Prince becoming a friend of Israel?” asked a headline in the Jerusalem Post. The newspaper believes that Bin Salman has done something historical and extraordinary by his recognition of Israel. The fact that he talked about the right of Israel to exist is a game changer in its eyes, as there is now a Saudi leader talking frankly and openly not only about Israel’s right to exist but also about Jews living in Saudi Arabia. He also condemned the funding of terrorist groups — like “Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood” — and has made a stronger case against Iran than the Israeli Prime Minister. Such statements, said the Jerusalem Post, must be taken seriously and must be engaged, as they pose the question, is Mohammad Bin Salman a friend of Israel and the Israeli people?

I will answer this question for them. Mohammad Bin Salman is not the only member of the Al-Saud family who is a friend of Israel and its people. Most of the country’s leaders since its establishment have been friends of Israel and its people, just like the rest of the Arab leaders. However, the difference is that Bin Salman has been the boldest and most daring — or, as I like to describe him, the most disrespectful — in showing to the world this relationship and the warm love that the two states share. Meanwhile, the others had and still have this sinful relationship in secret, which is what prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare that it is not the Arab leaders who are an obstacle to reaching peace with Israel, but the Arab populations.

The Arab leaders have been Israel’s agents in the area, as well as the guardians of its borders and its protectors. That is why the Muslim Brotherhood is the common enemy amongst them, as fighters from the movement were the ones who inflicted losses and defeats on the Zionist gangs in the 1948 war. They would have been at the doorstep of Tel Aviv if it wasn’t for the false truce and betrayal by the Arab rulers. The Zionists are well aware of the Muslim Brotherhood’s strength and know that they and their state can only be defeated by men of faith. That is why they are fighting Islam and Brotherhood ideology.

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Although the ambitious Crown Prince has spent three weeks in the United States, and has given several press and television interviews, he has not uttered one word about Trump’s decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. How could he say anything when Trump visited the Gulf and said that the kings of these rich countries — a reference to all the Gulf leaders — would have to abandon their private jets and lavish lifestyles after America withdraws from the region?

While the Balfour Declaration enabled the “Jewish people” to seize the land of Palestine, Bin Salman’s unsurprising declaration will allow them to control and dominate all of the Arab countries and loot their resources in the process. He truly is the miraculous prince who was made before their eyes and is the next king that they will have crowned themselves.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.