Netanyahu Tells Trump To Back Saudi Prince After Brutal Khashoggi Murder
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called senior Trump administration officials to express support for Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The newspaper quoted “people familiar with the calls” as saying that Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi defended bin Salman, saying his effective leadership of Saudi Arabia had important strategic implications.
Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have diplomatic relations but share intelligence about their mutual enemies, especially Iran. Netanyahu is also banking on bin Salman to advance recognition of Israel in the Arab world while peace negotiations with the Palestinians remain stalled.
Saudi agents killed Jamal Khashoggi after he entered the country’s consulate in Istanbul for a routine paperwork errand. Khashoggi, once close to the Saudi royal family, moved to the Washington, D.C. area in recent years. Writing for The Washington Post, he became a prominent critic of the family, particularly bin Salman.
Bin Salman has told President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to whom he is close, that low-level officials who had gone rogue had killed Khashoggi.
That version has aroused considerable skepticism among Saudi watchers, considering bin Salman’s vast control over what happens in the kingdom.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30