Insight

Some journalists in Riyadh are defending Israeli actions against Palestinians and their allies, even rejecting the two-state solution.

Some prominent Saudi journalists have come out to defend Israeli aggression towards Palestinians, calling the Palestinian group Hamas "murderers and agents of Iran" and also expressing their sympathy with the Zionist state.

"Our hearts are with you. May Allah protect Israel and its people," prominent Saudi journalist and former director of the Jeddah-based Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies, Abd al Hamid al Hakim, wrote on Twitter.

The Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is no longer secretive about its pro-Israel stance. Instead its member state Oman hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year. The visit coincided with the visit of Israeli far-right Minister Miri Regev to the UAE, another GCC member state.

"We will not let the treacherous hand of Iran and its agents in Gaza reach the Israeli people. It's time to say this out loud: confronting the terror of Hamas is the responsibility of all the countries in the region and of the international community [as a whole], not only of Israel,” al Hakim added in his tweet.

Ignoring the historical claim of Palestinians over the land occupied by Israel, al Hakim called on all the Arabs to rethink their support of the Palestinian cause. "Do you want these murders and agents of Iran to rule Jerusalem?" he asked.

Other Saudi journalists also joined the chorus.

"It's a repeating loop: rockets [are fired] from Gaza into Israel, Israel bombs [Gaza], someone or other mediates, the fighting stops – and the common Palestinian folks pay the price,” Turki al Hamad, another Saudi writer, wrote.

"This is 'resistance,' my friend. Iran and Turkey are in trouble, and the Palestinians are paying the price," he continued, blaming brutal Israeli attacks in Hamas-controlled Gaza on Turkey and Iran.

Riyadh and its Gulf allies have accused the Iranian leadership in the past of having a secret connections and collaboration with Tel Aviv.

Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s leadership, Riyadh has tightened its relations with Israel to balance Iran’s weight in the Middle East. MBS shakes hands with US President Donald Trump, Israel’s staunch ally, in Washington, on March 20, 2018. (Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)

But now Saudi-led Gulf has been publicly allied with Israel against Iran, a Shia majority country that is fast gaining its influence across the Middle East.

"Many, many years ago, when there was an Arab decision not to have contact with Israel, that was a very, very wrong decision, looking back," lamented Anwar Gargash, the UAE Foreign Minister, a strong ally of Saudi Arabia, during an appearance in Abu Dhabi in late March.

Gargash also said there will be no Palestinian state in the future, a viewpoint which complements Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's brutal approach towards Palestinians.

“I think 10 to 15 years, the discussion will be what is the nature of the Israeli state, what are the rights of the Palestinians within that Israeli state,” Gargash said, embracing the Zionist stance.

Gargash referred to the Palestinian state as “a rump state", which he says is no longer achievable “because a two-state solution will no longer be feasible”.

He also said a Palestinian state “will no longer be practical”.

Source: TRT World