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Israeli diplomat calls Saudi Arabia ‘unreliable ally’, insults Washington

October 15, 2022 at 10:39 am

Israel’s U.S. Ambassador Alon Pinkas speaks at a news conference about the Israeli elections at the Israeli Consulate January 28, 2003 in New York City. [Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images]

An Israeli diplomat has attacked Saudi Arabia for its decision to cut oil production and for its “public insult” of the US, criticising it for being an “unreliable ally”.

Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas, who was the former consul in New York, explained in an article in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper that it took 20 years of discussions on the issue of the loose alliance with Saudi Arabia to reach the conclusion that “the Gulf isn’t a reliable, trustworthy ally.”

Pinkas asserted that an ally who opposes your foreign policy and funds the opposition, forcibly drags you into an armed regional confrontation that it launched (the war in Yemen), that openly cooperates with your biggest enemy at a time when there is a direct confrontation with you (Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine), that defies your explicit demands to increase and reduce oil extraction and that invites you to a conference in Jeddah to publicly insult you (the OPEC+ decision to reduce oil extraction) is not a “reliable ally”.

Pinkas noted that Washington should thank Saudi Arabia for the moment of complete clarity because it clearly stated it is not an ally of the US. According to him, there will be those in Washington who warn of an excessive and retaliatory response by the US and those who will explain that the important geopolitical weight of Saudi Arabia expired three decades ago. Pinkas also expressed that some consider Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman a smart politician who calculates political investments and directs his country outside the solar system of the US. Pinkas indicated that the common denominator between all these arguments is the denial of the simple reality that this unbalanced alliance is nearing its end.

Pinkas cautioned: “The answer to the question: To what extent is Saudi Arabia and Russia’s decision to reduce oil extraction the turning point in the geopolitics in the Middle East? It is based on the type and magnitude of US President Joe Biden’s response and his tendency is clear, a critical reassessment of relations and a reduction in the level of security and political cooperation. The extent and duration of this decision will determine the level of relations, but the significance of the events of the past week cannot be underestimated.”

He noted: “The process through which the US promised to reassess relations has been ongoing at least since the September 11, 2001, attacks, and thanks to shale fuels and innovative drilling technology, in 2001 Saudi Arabia went from being a strategic asset to a security burden.”

“American politicians, including presidential candidates, have always had a tendency to threaten Saudi Arabia openly, and then disappear after an intelligence briefing in which the heads of the security services in the US explain the extent of intelligence cooperation between the two countries. It appears recently that this phenomenon has reached the end, and except for the sacred anger at Saudi hypocrisy, and the denial of the favour by the state that put a security umbrella over it, the anger at cooperation with Putin and the provocative humiliation by the OPEC + decision, I heard concrete proposals in Congress, and the US President announced that he would examine them positively,” Pinkas concluded.

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