Alexandra Ma
Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, pictured at right, reportedly doesn't get why
Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance has turned into such a big diplomatic crisis.
Riyadh on Friday for the first time acknowledged Khashoggi's death. Associated Press/Virginia Mayo; Nicolas
Asfouri - Pool/Getty
- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is suspected of being behind the
death of
the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
- Saudi Arabia has denied this, and its latest
account of Khashoggi's death says the killers went behind
the prince's back.
- The crown prince was shocked to see that
Khashoggi's disappearance provoked such international outrage, and he
asked White House adviser Jared Kushner why it was happening, The Wall
Street Journal reported over the weekend.
- Crown Prince Mohammed also grew angry that
Khashoggi's disappearance turned into such a big diplomatic crisis, The
Journal said.
Saudi Arabia's crown prince, the
man suspected of ordering the killing of
Jamal Khashoggi, could
not understand why the Saudi journalist's disappearance was such a big
deal, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Mohammed bin Salman was shocked to
see Khashoggi's disappearance in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul provoke such
international outrage, and he called the White House adviser Jared Kushner to
ask why, the paper said.
Citing unnamed people who recently
interacted with the prince, The Journal said Crown Prince Mohammed became angry
that the episode had turned into a diplomatic crisis.
Business leaders and politicians, are now shunning Saudi Arabia, with everyone from
the US Treasury secretary to The New York Times pulling out of a major
conference in Riyadh scheduled to take place Tuesday.
Crown Prince Mohammed called Kushner,
President Donald Trump's son-in-law and Middle East adviser, on October 10, The
Journal said, eight days after Khashoggi disappeared.
Crown Prince Mohammed asked in
English what the outrage was about, the report said, citing two people who were
briefed on the conversation.
Crown
Prince Mohammed, pictured with President Donald Trump and the White House
adviser Jared Kushner in May 2017, reportedly called Kushner to ask why people
were so outraged. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Kushner and John Bolton, the US
national security adviser, reportedly told the crown prince in response that he
had to solve the crisis quickly.
Kushner is close to Crown Prince
Mohammed and — according to CNN— texts him directly sometimes on WhatsApp. He has not
taken a public role in the US response to the Khashoggi crisis, but reports suggest he has advised Trump
to stand by Saudi Arabia until the episode blows over.
Part of the reason the Khashoggi
episode turned into a major diplomatic crisis was the sheer depravity of the reports of his
killing, which included leaks that agents brought a bone saw into the Saudi
Consulate and dismembered the journalist.
Khashoggi, a 59-year-old contributor
for The Washington Post, also had powerful friends in Washington.
Khashoggi
at an event hosted by Middle East Monitor in London on September 29.Middle East
Monitor via Reuters
The Saudi royal family, which runs
the country, was initially "relaxed" about Khashoggi's disappearance
when reports first emerged, The Journal reported, citing a source close to the
royal household.
"Then it snowballed," the
source said. "When things started heating up in the States, everybody
started getting worried."
The Trump administration appeared
reluctant to hold the Saudi leadership responsible for weeks after Khashoggi's
disappearance.
Trump has continued to tout billions of dollars' worth of
arms contracts struck
between Washington and Riyadh, which he has repeatedly claimed could create hundreds
of thousands of jobs in the US.
After Saudi Arabia acknowledged
Khashoggi's death, Trump told The Post that "obviously there's been deception, and
there's been lies" in the Saudi explanation of the disappearance and
death.
But the president said he "would
love if he wasn't responsible," referring to Crown Prince Mohammed.
Many of the 15 men identified in the
Turkish news media as suspects in Khashoggi's killing have been seen in the crown prince's
entourage.
Trump,
seen with Crown Prince Mohammed in the White House in March, has touted
billions of dollars’ worth of arms deals with Saudi Arabia. AP Photo/Evan
Vucci
Riyadh first acknowledged
Khashoggi's death on Friday night— 17 days after he disappeared — but attributed it to
"a quarrel and a physical confrontation" that got out of hand. Saudi
officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed, previously claimed that Khashoggi
left the consulate and denied knowing his whereabouts.
The kingdom appears keen to distance
the crown prince from the matter. Shortly after acknowledging Khashoggi's
death, Saudi Arabia detained 18 suspects and dismissed a high-ranking general —
most likely an attempt to portray the killing as a rogue operation, rather than
one sanctioned by the upper echelons of the Saudi government.
Jubeir told Fox News on Saturday:
"This was an operation that was a rogue operation. This was an operation
where individuals ended up exceeding the authorities and responsibilities they
had. They made a mistake when they killed Jamal Khashoggi in the consulate, and
they tried to cover up for it."
The crown prince has been given
powers to restructure the country's intelligence services, the state-run Saudi
Press Agency reported Friday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan promised that he would reveal the
"naked truth" about
Khashoggi's death on Tuesday.
The Saudi foreign minister, Adel
Al-Jubeir, has said Crown Prince Mohammed "was not aware of" the
operation that resulted in Khashoggi's death.
/https://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2021/09/25/huawei-executive-meng-wanzhou-receives-warm-welcome-upon-return-to-china/_1_meng_wanzhou_2.jpg)
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