Biden’s Visit To Saudi Turns Controversial Over Kashoggi’s Assasination

Biden during his campaign believed that Khashoggi was killed on orders of Prince Mohammed, but he didn’t follow his vows in the meeting.

Mumbai:  Joe Biden, who is on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, on Friday met the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and King Salman. On his arrival at the Saudi port city of Jeddah, Biden was welcomed by Prince Khalid al-Faisal. Biden gave a fist bump to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi state television showed has broadcasted. At the onset of the meet of Biden and Mohammed Bin Salman ,the press was allowed inside but reporters in the room were not able to hear anything that they said, the level of secrecy was well maintained. As he seeks to reset relations with the gulf supplier of oil, it ended as a completely friendly meeting that further led to criticism and raised controversy for the White House President. Biden exited the palace out of sight of the press and nobody noticed his leave.

In a desperate attempt to avoid shaking MBS’s hand in Saudi Arabia, Joe Biden went with the fist bump instead. pic.twitter.com/TAIIUQ6RsM

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 15, 2022

In the days preceding up to the contentious encounter in Saudi Arabia, the greeting had been the subject of queries. Due to a long history of violations of human rights, Biden has sworn to treat the nation as a “pariah” while running for president. People started to dig out old tweets of Biden questioning Human Rights with respect to Journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination for which Mohammed Bin Salman was suspected.

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi, claimed on Friday that President Joe Biden had allowed Saudi Arabia’s crown prince to kill more people after the US president had fist bump with the person  allegedly responsible for the journalist’s assasination. She called his visit to Saudi Arabia as “heartbreaking” and accussed that the president of the United States had reneged on his promise to always put human rights first. In the form of what she imagined as a tweet by Khashoggi, Hatice Cengiz wrote to Biden, “Is this the accountability you promised for my murder? The blood of MBS’s next victim is on your hands.”

What Jamal Khashoggi would tweet today: pic.twitter.com/Gv4Up7TLgd

— Hatice Cengiz / خديجة (@mercan_resifi) July 15, 2022

Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination:

Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi  was a  journalist from Saudi Arabia , a dissident, an author, columnist for Middle East Eye and The Washington Post, and a general manager and also the editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel who was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in  2018,2 October by agents of the Saudi government, allegedly on the orders of the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. At the moment of his assasination, Khashoggi was a U.S. resident and was a bestowed columnist for The Washington Post who had written articles critically on the crown prince’s increasing repression towards the activists.

In January 2019, the Saudi government initiated trials against 11 Saudis accused of being involved in the killing of Khashoggi. In December 2019, following  a procedure surrounded by secrecy , Saudi Arabian court acquitted three defendants; sentenced five defendants to death; and sentenced three defendants to prison terms.All the evidence available suggests that  Khashoggi’s murder and the subsequent disappearance of his body, were serious human rights abuses.

Biden said during his campaign that he believed Khashoggi was killed on the behest of Prince Mohammed, describing the kingdom as a “pariah” and mentioning “there’s very little social redeeming value in the present government in Saudi Arabia.”

Biden’s stand:

US President Joe Biden claimed that the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was “at the top the meeting”. “What happened to Khashoggi was outrageous,” Biden said Friday night post the meeting with Prince Mohammed in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.”I said, very straightforwardly, for an American president to be silent on an issue of human rights is inconsistent with who we are and who I am,” Biden said. “I’ll always stand up for our values.” “Prince basically said that he was not personally responsible. I indicated that I thought he was,” Biden told reporters in Jeddah.

Earlier this week, Biden stated “The reason I’m going to Saudi Arabia, though, is much broader.
It’s to promote U.S. interests in a way that I think we have an opportunity to reassert what I think we made a mistake of walking away from our influence in the Middle East.” Increasing gas costs, which were compounded by the Russian intrusion of Ukraine, are one of the variables that provoked Biden to reassess his approach to Saudi Arabia. They were taking incremental steps forward together. Biden reported that U.S. peacekeepers would take off the Red Sea island of Tiran by the end of this year. Biden also said advancement was being made on extending the ceasefire in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia had been fighting Iran-backed aggressors, driving to a humanitarian crisis.

A day before Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi’s fiancee spoke with The Associated Press in Istanbul .In an interview  Cengiz said ,“That day destroyed my life. And I don’t want to remember any part of that day,” . “It’s a very huge backing down actually, it’s heartbreaking and disappointing. And Biden will lose his moral authority by putting oil and expediency over principles and values.”