Saturday, October 20, 2018

السلطة الفلسطينية تدعم السعودية في قضية خاشقجي

LISTEN TO THIS ASSHOLE, ABBAS!

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أعلنت السلطة الفلسطينية عن دعمها للسعودية في قضية قتل الصحافي السعودي، جمال خاشقجي، واصطفافها إلى جانب الرياض في روايتها حيال ملابسات قتل خاشقجي في قنصلية بلاده في إسطنبول.
وقالت السلطة الفلسطينية في بيان رسمي إن "السعودية بقيادة خادم الحرمين الشريفين الملك سلمان بن عبد العزيز، وولي العهد الأمير محمد بن سلمان، ستبقى دولة العدالة والقيم والمبادئ". وأشادت بالقرارات التي اتخذها خادم الحرمين الشريفين لتأكيد إرساء العدل والانصاف والحقائق والقانون".
يأتي ذلك، في الوقت الذي أعلنت كل من مصر والإمارات، اليوم السبت، عن دعم مزاعم الرياض حيال مقتل خاشقجي، حيث قالت وكالة الأنباء الإماراتية، إن الإمارات تدعم بيان السعودية بخصوص وفاة خاشقجي. وأضافت على "تويتر" أن الإمارات "تشيد بتوجيهات وقرارات خادم الحرمين الشريفين بشأن قضية خاشقجي".
من جهتها أشادت مصر، بما وصفته بـ"القرارات والإجراءات الحاسمة والشجاعة" التي اتخذها الملك السعودي في القضية.
وأقرت السعودية، بمقتل الصحافي خاشقجي، في قنصليتها بإسطنبول، وأقالت عددا من المسؤولين لتورطهم في الحادثة، هم من أبرز المقربين من ولي العهد، الذي يعتقد أنه من أمر بتنفيذ الجريمة.
وادعت السعودية أن خاشقجي توفي "نتيجة شجار نشب بعد تطوّر نقاش" في القنصلية بينه وبين المسؤولين فيها، في محاولة لإنكار أي تورط رسمي سعودي.
يذكر أن اصطفاف السلطة والدفاع عن الرياض في قضايا مثيرة للجدل ليس بالأمر الجديد، حيث سبق وأن أتخذ رئيس السلطة، محمود عباس، مواقف داعمة للسلطات السعودية، وذلك في أعقاب مطالبة وزيرة الخارجية الكندية والسفارة الكندية بالإفراج عن نشاطي المجتمع المدني الذين اعتقلتهم السلطات السعودية. واعتبرت الأخيرة ذلك بمثابة "تدخل سافر في شؤونهاالداخلية".
واعتبر عباس أن المطالبة بالإفراج عن معتقلي الرأي في السعودية "مسا بسيادة المملكة على أرضها وشعبها". وأدان المطالبة الحقوقية، ووصفها بـ"التدخل السافر" في الشؤون الداخلية للسعودية.

من اغتال الخاشقجي ؟

من اغتال الخاشقجي ؟

Thursday, October 18, 2018

MBS’s rampaging anger will not silence questions about Jamal Khashoggi

By David Ignatius

The Washington Post
Image result for bloody hands of bin salman
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Inside his royal palace in Riyadh, Mohammed bin Salman is said to have alternated between dark brooding and rampaging anger in the days after the death of Jamal Khashoggi, as Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, or MBS, as he is widely known, looked for someone to blame for what Turkish officials have said was the journalist’s grisly murder.
One possible scapegoat, according to several sources, may be Maj. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, the deputy chief of Saudi intelligence. Assiri “has made numerous approaches to MBS on taking actions against Khashoggi and others,” said one source who is familiar with Western intelligence reports.
The U.S. government learned last month that Assiri was planning to create a “tiger team” to conduct covert special operations, I’m told, though officials didn’t know the targets. U.S. intelligence also learned, but only after Khashoggi’s disappearance after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, that the crown prince had told his subordinates this summer that he wanted Khashoggi and other Saudi dissidents brought home.
The swirling reports and recriminations surfaced as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited the kingdom on Tuesday and urged King Salman and his son to conduct a “transparent” investigation of the disappearance of Khashoggi, a Post contributing columnist. But such efforts to seek a tidy solution will face rising skepticism in Congress, epitomized by the blast on Tuesday from Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) that “he [MBS] had this guy murdered.”
Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, urged MBS last weekend to organize an investigation that could identify the culprit responsible for Khashoggi’s death, two sources told me. The next day, after speaking with the Saudi king, the president said he thought “rogue killers within Saudi Arabia’s government may have been responsible, seemingly telegraphing a fall-guy strategy.
The emerging Saudi narrative appears to be that the palace authorized Khashoggi’s arrest and interrogation but not his murder. This version has some obvious holes: If the goal was “rendition” back to Saudi Arabia (as it is politely termed), then why interrogate him in Istanbul? And why did a forensics expert allegedly join the 15-man Saudi team photographed arriving at Istanbul airport? Finally, will such a Saudi account hold up under intense scrutiny by Congress, the media and, perhaps, U.S. courts?
Opinion | 'His words aren't gone': Our missing friend, Jamal Khashoggi
Columnist David Ignatius, Jamal Khashoggi's longtime friend, and Karen Attiah, Khashoggi's editor, talk about the missing Post contributor and his work. 
The Khashoggi case isn’t the first time the palace allegedly attempted to kidnap a critic. After one prominent Saudi criticized aspects of the crown prince’s plan to privatize Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company, in a meeting abroad with potential foreign investors, a Saudi plane arrived along with an official who allegedly tried to arrest the man as a terrorist. He escaped and is now living outside the kingdom. But the message was clear: Challenging MBS was risky.
The darkening mood inside MBS’s palace in recent months shows a crown prince facing economic pressure and tightening his circle of advisers.
MBS’s key counselor is said to have been Saud al-Qahtani, the crown prince’s media adviser but also increasingly his consigliere in the kingdom’s battles with foreign adversaries such as Qatar and Iran as well as domestic critics. Like his boss, Qahtani is considered young and headstrong.
Qahtani organized interviews with MBS for visiting foreign journalists. But sources say he was quietly assuming a larger role overseeing strategy in social media, which the Saudis (like the Russians) view as a domain of war. Qahtani’s headquarters was a special “Center for Studies and Media Affairs,” operating inside the royal court without supervision from other ministries. It became, in part, a domestic snooping operation, sources say.
Qahtani is a demon in Saudi Twitter debates, with 1.3 million followers and barbed messages to dissenters. He has created a hashtag with the Arabic term for “Black List,” and he urges Saudis to report enemies of the kingdom. His opponents in Qatar refer to Qahtani’s followers (perhaps including automated bots) as an “Army of Flies.” U.S. officials believe that, in addition to seeking dominance in social media, Qahtani and other advisers have helped MBS use the latest and most aggressive hacking techniques against adversaries.
Video claims to show chain of events in Istanbul on day of Khashoggi's disappearance
A video obtained by The Washington Post purports to show events in Istanbul on the day Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi disappeared. 
MBS’s tight inner circle has helped him push modernization efforts, such as reducing the power of the religious police, allowing women to drive and opening movie theaters and other public entertainment. But his team of palace advisers has often amplified, rather than challenged, the crown prince’s worst impulses.
This breakdown was evident immediately after Khashoggi’s disappearance, when official Saudi statements were all happy talk. Behind the scenes, says one knowledgeable source, “MBS went into a funk for several days after learning of Khashoggi’s death before re-emerging on a rampage of anger around what happened and trying to figure out a response.”
Adding to MBS’s anxiety in the weeks before Khashoggi’s disappearance was the erosion of his big plans to boost the Saudi economy. In August, the kingdom delayed indefinitely its push to privatize Saudi Aramco, which MBS had hoped would raise more than $100 billion. That same month, plans for a big investment in the automaker Tesla cratered. An investment deal with the Japanese company Softbank also hit a snag.

Surrounded by yes-men who saw suppressing dissent as part of a media war, and rattled by the reversal of his dreams for economic reform, MBS moved toward the fateful moment when Khashoggi entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. When the brave journalist opened the door, he began a catastrophic process that has now put MBS’s own future in question. Putting a lid on a murder investigation won’t be easy, even for the brashly confident crown prince.

A GREAT CARTOON BY EMAD HAJJAJ: ترامب يتدخل في قضية الخاشقجي !

ترامب يتدخل في قضية الخاشقجي !

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

EXCLUSIVE: Seven of bin Salman's bodyguards among Khashoggi suspects

By David Hearst

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Seven of the 15 men suspected of being involved in an operation to kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi belong to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s personal security and protection detail, Middle East Eye can reveal.
The suspects went and ate dinner at the Saudi consul-general’s residence after murdering and dismembering Khashoggi inside the consulate, a source in the Istanbul Prosecutor General’s office also told MEE on Wednesday as Turkish police finally gained access to the building on Wednesday.
Most of them are high-ranking officers who accompanied the crown prince on diplomatic visits to the UK and France earlier this year.
The 15 men were photographed at passport control at Ataturk Airport on 2 October (AFP)
MEE has obtained a document from the Saudi Interior Ministry detailing their ranks, dates of birth, passport and telephone numbers and when they accompanied bin Salman on trips abroad. All of them are members of the crown prince’s Special Security Force.
MEE is not publishing the document in order to protect the safety of its sources.
Confirmation that these seven members were high-ranking members of the crown prince’s close protection team and travelled with him on high profile visits regularly will complicate efforts currently under way to distance bin Salman from the murder investigation in Istanbul.

Three suspects visited UK

At least three of them accompanied bin Salman on his visit to the UK in March. They are First Lieutenant Dhaar Ghalib Dhaar Al-Harbi, Sergeant Major Walid Abdullah Al-Shihri, and Abdul Aziz Muhammad Musa Al-Hawsawi.
At least two of them accompanied the crown prince to France in April. They are Major General Mahir Abdul Aziz Muhammad Mutrib and Colonel Badr Lafi Muhammad Al-Oteibi.
Mohammed bin Salman meets with Queen Elizabeth in March 2018 during his visit to the UK (AFP)
Middle East Eye called phone numbers with Saudi dialling codes in the document for the seven men but most of the numbers had been disconnected. One of the numbers rang unanswered. Another number was answered by a man who said he was not the individual named in the document. 
Turkish media published the names and photos of the 15 suspects last week after Turkish sources close to the investigation told Middle East Eye and other media outlets that prosecutors suspected Khashoggi had been killed and dismembered shortly after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October.
Several of the suspects arrived at Ataturk airport on commercial flights in the early hours on 2 October, while others arrived on a private jet from Riyadh later that morning. A second private jet landed in Istanbul that afternoon, when three suspects also flew in on commercial flights.
The suspects checked into two hotels near to the Saudi consulate but all left the country within hours of their arrival. Thirteen of the 15 suspects left Istanbul aboard the two private jets on the evening of 2 October, while the final two left on commercial flights in the early hours of 3 October.
JAMAL KHASHOGGI ►
Saudi officials have denied any knowledge about Khashoggi’s disappearance and initially said that he had left the consulate building shortly after arriving. Following publication of the names of the 15 suspects, the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV network described them as “tourists”.
However, CNN reported earlier this week that Saudi Arabia was preparing to admit that Khashoggi had died during a botched interrogation or attempted abduction amid growing international revulsion about the reported circumstances of the journalist’s suspected death.

Suspected 'coordinator'

Mutrib, the highest ranked officer among the seven named on the interior ministry document, has been identified by investigators as the "coordinator of the operation", according to MEE's Turkish sources.
They say that Mutrib chartered the two private jets for the mission and was one of two suspects to travel on diplomatic passports.
Meshal Saad M Albost, born in 1987; Mustafa Muhammed M Almadani, born in 1961; Mansour Othman Aba Hussein, born in 1972; Mahir Abdul Aziz Muhammad Mutrib, born in 1971; Walid Abdullah al-Shihri, born in 1980 (AFP)
Mutrib has previously been identified by the New York Times as a diplomat assigned to the Saudi embassy in London based on a British foreign office diplomatic list dating from 2007.
The newspaper also tracked down photographs of Mutrib standing guard next to the Crown Prince during visits to Spain, France and the US.
From left to right: Fahad Shabib A Albalawi, born in 1985; Dhaar Ghalib Dhaar Al-Harbi, born in 1979; Salah Muhammad A Tubaigy, born in 1971; Saif Saad Q Alqahtani, born in 1973; Badr Lafi Muhammad al-Oteibi, born in 1973 (AFP)
In this document Mutrib is referred to as a “communications engineer” and a “security companion” of the crown prince.
Two of the names on the list are not identified as having accompanied bin Salman on his visits to London and Paris.
From left to right: Nayif Hasan Saad al-Arifi, born in 1986; Abdul Aziz Muhammad Musa al-Hawsawi, born in 1987; Muhammed Saad H Alzahrani, born in 1988; Khaled Aedh G Altaibi, born in 1988; Turki Muserref M Alsehri, born in 1982 (AFP)
Both, however, are high-ranking. They are Major Nayif Hasan Saad Al-Arifi, and Brigadier General Mansour Othman Aba Hussein. Both are described as “support officers (security and protection) for the Saudi Crown Prince”.

Autopsy specialist

An eighth man, identified on audio tapes whose content was disclosed to MEE as performing the dismemberment of Khashoggi while he was drugged but still alive, is Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy.
Tubaigy had two senior posts. One was as the chairman of the forensic evidence department within Saudi General Security. The second was chairman of the Scientific Council of Forensic Medicine within the Saudi Commission for Health Specialities. 
This is the Saudi equivalent of the General Medical Council, the UK’s medical regulator, and in such a senior post Tubaigy would be an examiner of doctors wanting to qualify as specialists in forensic medicine, and would decide on whether doctors trained abroad were qualified to work as forensic specialists in Saudi hospitals.
READ MORE ►
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Tubaigy had published research on dissection and mobile autopsies and said that his presence among the suspects “suggests that killing might have been part of the original plan”.
The latest revelations about bin Salman’s close links to seven of the 15 suspects are likely to further raise suspicions about what the crown prince knew, and whether an operation involving high-level members of his own security detail could have been sanctioned without his knowledge or express orders.
Officially the crown prince, who is also defence minister, controls all three of Saudi’s armed forces, the defence ministry, the national guard, and the interior ministry.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump tweeted that bin Salman had "totally denied any knowledge of what took place” in Istanbul and had launched a “full and complete investigation into this matter”.
Just spoke with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate. He was with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo...
...during the call, and told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly.
Trump spoke to bin Salman during a visit to Riyadh by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo which came with the White House’s close alliance with the Saudi royal coming under growing scrutiny over Khashoggi’s disappearance.
The British foreign office told MEE that it would have to ask Saudi officials to confirm members of the crown prince’s delegation during bin Salman’s visit to London.

MEE has contacted the Saudi embassies in London and Washington and the French foreign ministry for comment.

تقديرات إسرائيلية: بن سلمان قنبلة زرعها كوشنر وفجّرها خاشقجي

صالح النعامي
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دعا معلقون إسرائيليون إلى إعادة النظر في العلاقة مع نظام الحكم السعودي، والتوقف عن تزويده بالسلاح بعد قضية اختفاء الصحافي جمال خاشقجي، بينما قال آخرون إن هذه القضية قد تؤثر بشكل كبير على مستقبل التعاون والعلاقة الضمنية والعلنية بين تل أبيب والرياض.

وتوقع المعلق في صحيفة "معاريف" شلومو شامير، أن يفضي التوتر بين الرياض والإدارة الأميركية إلى إقناع نظام الحكم في السعودية بتقليص مستوى العلاقة السرية مع تل أبيب، منوهاً إلى أن هذه العلاقة تطورت إلى حد كبير، بحيث وصلت إلى حد عقد لقاءات بين كبار المسؤولين في الجانبين.

وفي مقال نشرته الصحيفة اليوم، وصف شامير المقيم في نيويورك، ولي العهد السعودي محمد بن سلمان بـ"القنبلة التي زرعها" جاريد كوشنير، مستشار وصهر الرئيس دونالد ترامب في البيت الأبيض، معتبراً أن تصفية خاشقجي على أيدي السعوديين "مثل الصاعق الذي أفضى إلى تفجير هذه القنبلة".

وأشار إلى أن البيت الأبيض بات في وضع "حرج" بسبب طابع العلاقات الوثيقة التي ربطت ترامب وإدارته مع بن سلمان، منوهاً إلى أن ما يفاقم وضع ترامب أن تفجر هذه القضية جاء قبل 3 أسابيع على موعد إجراء الانتخابات النصفية للكونغرس.

أما المستشرق إيال زيسر، رئيس قسم الدراسات الشرقية في جامعة تل أبيب، فقد أشار إلى أن خيبة أمل كبيرة تسود إسرائيل في أعقاب قضية خاشقجي. وفي مقال نشره أمس موقع صحيفة "يسرائيل هيوم"، أشار إلى أن هذه القضية مسّت بمصالح إسرائيل الإقليمية، على اعتبار أنها أفضت إلى عودة العلاقة بين تركيا والولايات المتحدة إلى سابق عهدها واتساع الخلاف بين واشنطن والرياض.
ونوّه إلى أن بن سلمان فاجأ الغرب وإسرائيل "بعدما تورط حتى رقبته في قضية خاشقجي"، منوهاً إلى أن هذه القضية حطمت صورته "كزعيم حداثي ومتنور". وأشار إلى أن قضية خاشقجي دلت على أن بن سلمان يفتقر للتعقل، ورسمت علامات من الشك حول مستوى مؤهلاته القيادية.

وأشار إلى أن بن سلمان ظهر كقائد "متهور"، بشكل أفضى إلى خسارته كل المعارك التي خاضها، ولا سيما في اليمن الذي مثل ساحة للتورط السعودي، منوهاً إلى أنه لا يوجد ما يدل على أن الرياض قادرة على الخروج من الوحل الذي علقت فيه هناك. وأوضح أن ولي العهد السعودي خسر مواجهة إيران في لبنان، مشيراً إلى اضطراره إلى الإفراج عن رئيس الحكومة اللبناني سعد الحريري، بعدما احتجزه وأجبره على تقديم الاستقالة.

وأعاد للأذهان حقيقة أن سلوك بن سلمان تطابق مع المصالح الإسرائيلية، لا فقط في حماسته لمواجهة إيران، بل إنه أبدى "اعتدالاً مفاجئاً" تجاه إسرائيل. إلى ذلك، دعا معلق الشؤون الاستخبارية في صحيفة "معاريف" يوسي ميلمان، القيادة الإسرائيلية إلى إعادة النظر في علاقاتها بنظام الحكم السعودي بعد قضية خاشقجي، منتقداً تلميح قادة المستوى السياسي والأجهزة الاستخبارية إلى أن هناك نية لإحداث طفرة على العلاقات مع الرياض.

وفي مقال نشرته "معاريف" أمس، حذر ميلمان من أن يتم تحميل إسرائيل المسؤولية أمام المجتمع الدولي عن بعض مظاهر سلوك نظام الحكم السعودي، ولا سيما بسبب تزويد تل أبيب الرياض بتقنيات عسكرية واستخبارية متقدمة يمكن أن تستخدمها ضد معارضي نظام الحكم.

ودعا قادة الأجهزة الاستخبارية الإسرائيلية إلى إعادة النظر في العلاقة مع الاستخبارات السعودية في أعقاب قضية خاشقجي، مشدداً أنه إذا اضطرت تل أبيب إلى الاستعانة بالخدمات السعودية في مواجهة إيران فعليها توخي أقصى درجات الحذر في هذه العلاقة.

وأوضح أن "الميول البربرية" التي تسيطر على بن سلمان بسبب تعطشه للحكم جعلته يستخدم وسائل فظيعة مع معارضيه، وهذا ما يفسر ما حدث لخاشقجي.
من ناحيتها، أشارت الكاتبة نيتع بار إلى أن المخاطر على حكم بن سلمان لا تنحصر في تورطه ومغامراته التي كان آخرها إخفاء خاشقجي، مشيرة إلى أن ولي العهد خيب آمال السعوديين الذين لم يعد بوسعهم مواصلة التمتع بمستوى الحياة الجيد بسبب تراجع المداخيل الوطنية. 

وفي مقال نشرته أمس صحيفة "يسرائيل هيوم"، أشارت نيتع إلى أن ما يفاقم الأمور سوءاً أن بن سلمان أقدم على خطوات تقشفية قاسية لمواجهة الواقع الاقتصادي الصعب، ما يمثل مصدراً آخر من مصادر تراجع مستوى الحياة للسعوديين. ونوهت إلى أن إقدام بن سلمان على تصفية خاشقجي يعكس أنماط السلوك التي استلبت إليها العائلة المالكة في السعودية منذ ثلاثينيات القرن الماضي.