Ironically, the main evidence offered to support these charges of Khashoggi's links to Qatar is a Dec. 22 story in the Post by Souad Mekhennet and Greg Miller. The Qatar Foundation link was hardly a secret; I mentioned it in a long column about Khashoggi that appeared on Oct. 12, 10 days after he disappeared in Istanbul.

Even MBS' strongest supporters in the U.S. appear concerned by the new social-media campaign. Ali Shihabi, the head of the Saudi-backed Arabia Foundation, commented in an email to me Thursday: "I have no idea who is behind this new campaign, but it certainly does not seem wise." He argued that despite a "concerted campaign funded by Qatar and others ... the kingdom's media organs had so far exercised great self-control since the Jamal tragedy, and I would hope that continues."

The videos and web postings in the new campaign all have the professional feel of modern media studios in Dubai. According to a Saudi source, Qahtani recently made two trips to the United Arab Emirates, even though he is supposedly under house arrest in Riyadh. The trips couldn't be confirmed independently.

The Treasury Department said Nov. 15 in sanctioning Qahtani that he "was part of the planning and execution of the operation" that led to Khashoggi's death.