ABC reporter Mary Bruce provoked President Donald Trump this past week at a White House press gathering, which featured Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) of Saudi Arabia as the guest. Bruce questioned whether it was appropriate to host MBS (considering the latter’s alleged involvement in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in 2018).
Trump protested that MBS had nothing to do with the murder of Khashoggi (despite intelligence assessments that MBS played a role). Trump also noted, in reference to Khashoggi, that “a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman.” It should also be noted that the president made clear that Khashoggi did not deserve to be murdered.
Of course, the brutal murder of Khashoggi cannot be justified and there is no doubt MBS is responsible (if not culpable). What is doubtful is the notion that Khashoggi is worthy of the praise from the media he has received in death. It’s along the same lines as the praise for right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk (murdered earlier this year in Utah) and/or convicted felon George Floyd (who died at the hands of police in Minnesota in 2020). Albeit victims, neither was a righteous figure.
The same can be said for Khashoggi. A contributing columnist to The Washington Post, Khashoggi was also a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the most notorious agents of terrorism in the Middle East. Khashoggi took pride in his role in the so-called Arab Spring in 2011, which brought to power the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (which has since been deposed).
Khashoggi was a harsh critic of the Saudi regime. But he was no agent of democracy. His sympathy was with revolutionary elements in the Middle East determined to sabotage Arab monarchies (and to replace these monarchies with far worse theocracies). Khashoggi benefitted from a free press here in the United States. But that was not his vision for the Middle East.
In the same exchange with Trump, Bruce also stated that 09-11 families objected to MBS as the president’s guest at the White House. Since the infamous 09-11 attack in 2001, much has been made of the fact that fifteen of the nineteen terrorists were Saudi nationals. MBS was not yet in power. But much of the press insists 09-11 it was (and is) the responsibility of Saudi Arabia.
Such criticism is in need of perspective. The Saudi nationals involved in 09-11 were not acting on behalf of Saudi Arabia. They were dissidents who had no more regard for their home country’s regime than they had for the United States. To conclude that Saudi Arabia is responsible for 09-11 is akin to asserting the United States is responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, as the culprit Timothy McVeigh was a U.S. citizen (and veteran).
This column is not to exonerate Saudi Arabia. Much controversy surrounds the pending sale of F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia, a measure Trump has yet to take. It’s reminiscent of the sale to Saudi Arabia of AWACS planes (Airborne Warning and Control System) President Ronald Reagan pushed through Congress in 1981. Then, as now, the United States harbored the goal for Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel. The Saudis did not fulfill this expectation in 1981 and there is no reason to believe Saudi recognition of Israel is imminent in 2025.
Saudi Arabia yearns to be part of the Abraham Accords, the agreement negotiated by Trump in 2020 during his first term. The Abraham Accords includes the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan (all of whom have accepted the existence of Israel). Recognition of Israel is an explicit condition of the Abraham Accords and it’s time Trump emphasized to the Saudis the mandatory nature of this condition. MBS states his hope for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But this assertion is neither adequate nor sincere.
There are no easy answers to the riddle of Saudi Arabia. Even for Israel, Saudi Arabia plays a vital security role in the Middle East. And insistence on MBS taking the blame for the murder of Khashoggi and/or the Saudi regime for 09-11 is unrealistic.
But what is not needed was the pomp and honor President Trump bestowed on MBS in the visit to the White House. Indeed, the time is past due for Trump to pressure his Saudi friends to recognize Israel and earn a place in the Abraham Accords. The naivete of an ABC reporter notwithstanding, Saudi Arabia plays the role in the Middle East between an ally and a menace. Such an arrangement is not acceptable.
John O’Neill is an Allen Park freelance writer and a graduate of Wayne State University.
