Saudi press accuses US of terrorism and human rights violations

The less friendly relations between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are not new. But after US officials released a report on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, suggesting the strong likelihood that Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman had given the order to “capture or kill” the journalist, tensions between Washington and Riyadh have increased.

On Tuesday, the US State Department’s annual report revealed that in Saudi Arabia, civil authorities generally maintain effective control over the security forces, but with their members committing various abuses. The document further stated that the Ministries of Interior and Defense and all security forces report directly to King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, simultaneously head of State and Government.

But the attacks and the serious accusations are mutual. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) revealed on Wednesday that the Saudi press frequently attacks the US on the grounds that criticism of Saudi Arabia is “hypocritical”.

“Articles recently published in the Saudi press have ostensibly and scathingly criticized the United States, accusing them of supporting terrorism, committing crimes against humanity and violating human rights”, reads in a MEMRI report, released the day after Washington accused Riyadh of violence and crimes against humanity.According to the investigation, the Saudi media “claim that previous US administrations aimed at Saudi Arabia in the service of hostile countries like Iran, Qatar and Turkey, and that the current Administration is especially guilty of this “.

The US is still accused of supporting “Islamic ‘terrorist’ Saudi opponents” and “to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom under the pretext of defending human rights”.
“The history of the United States is full of crimes against humanity and the country ignores human rights violations in countries like Iran. Therefore, its criticisms of human rights violations in Saudi Arabia are hypocritical.”

MEMRI cites cases in which the Saudi press claims that the Biden Administration is trying to help hostile countries like Iran, Qatar and Turkey, while defaming Saudi Arabia as a human rights violator.

The articles mentioned in the MEMRI analysis have as a background the tension between the Biden Administration and Saudi Arabia and their allies, especially after several developments and statements in recent times such as: the publication of the US intelligence report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi; Washington’s statement that the human rights issue in Saudi Arabia would be a key issue in US-Saudi Arabia relations; a appeasement policy towards Iran and its Houthi allies, which perpetrate terror against Saudi Arabia; it’s the end of US support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.

“Hypocritical Westerners”

Journalist Muhammad Al-Sa’ed, for example, wrote in his column in the Saudi daily ‘Specimen that the administration and the American left-wing media are in an open war against Saudi Arabia and supporting Saudi opponents. Al-Sa’ed especially criticized the Washington Post, where Jamal Khashoggi used to write.“They are not [os norte-americanos] who are turning a blind eye to Iran’s habit of hanging activists and journalists on electricity poles? “, the Saudi journalist wrote in an article called “Ayatollah Biden”.

“Do they remember that Turkish opponents are kidnapped in [várias] world capitals and [depois] united with their families in Erdogan prisons? “, added the journalist.

The columnist also describes the “existential propaganda campaign against Saudi Arabia” as an attempt to make the Kingdom “embrace terrorist agendas” and the ideologies of organizations with which the US is currently negotiating to reduce escalations.

“Do you believe, Saudis, that those who sent their children to Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and Bosnia to fight in civil wars are now fighting for freedom?”, writes yet. “We know you better than you, you hypocritical Westerners”.

Last March 8, Al-Sa’ed published another article, where he stated that the intelligence report on the Khashoggi murder was a political movement in the United States with the intention of appeasing Iran.

Other Saudi journalists, such as Hamoud Abu Talib, claim that the US does everything it does to defend international law, but at the same time “openly violate it”.“Several United States governments of the third millennium have adopted this primitive pattern of thinking that casts a black shadow over the ideological, scientific and independent cultural elite of United States society”, wrote Talib in a recent analysis.

“A country whose prestigious universities teach international law and is flagrantly violating this law and all laws, letters and agreements [aceites] in international relations “.

“At the same time, the political elite [norte-americana] talks about his intention to interfere in the sovereignty, laws and legislative processes of other countries, at the service of evil, flagrant and disgusting agendas “.

Segundo Abu Talib, “the political mentality of some [figuras] who joined the US Administration is a cowboy mentality “. The USA “think and treat the world and countries and peoples, in the same arrogant and barbaric way that they used to adopt in the past”.

“Strangely, they speak as if the countries harmed [pelas suas ações] were banana republics as in countries where the US used to control corrupt officials and agents for decades “.

As for the journalist Ibtisam Al-Qahtani, US administration seems to suffer from ‘political Alzheimer’s’, “whose symptoms are clear in the statements and decisions it issues and which it opposes afterwards”.

“The shift in United States action and mutual ties in the region shows that the [Administração] democracy serves as a platform for launching Iranian missiles against Saudi Arabia, and that the heir [do trono] from the Democratic Party, [Joe] Biden, you will not act against Iran’s nuclear program “, also wrote. “On the contrary, it will be the greatest ally and supporter, as Iran is a specialist in [instigar] struggles, conflicts and chaos “.

“The United States government must learn from events, to avoid repeating its mistakes as part of its complicated [caso de] Political Alzheimer’s “, concluded, according to MEMRI.

If during the Trump Administration it seemed that US-Saudi Arabia relations were more harmonious, it now appears that with the democratic administration of Joe Biden, Washington and Riyadh are at an impasse.