Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud condemned what he called the ‘genocide’ committed by Israel against Palestinians when he spoke at a summit of Muslim and Arab leaders yesterday.
“The kingdom renews its condemnation and categorical rejection of the genocide committed by Israel against the brotherly Palestinian people,” he said at an Arab-Islamic summit, echoing comments by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud late last month.
He urged the international community to stop Israel from attacking Iran and to respect Iran’s sovereignty.
The Crown Prince said in September the kingdom would not recognise Israel unless a Palestinian state were created.
US President Joe Biden’s administration had sought to broker a normalisation accord between Saudi Arabia and Israel that would have included US security guarantees for the kingdom, among other bilateral deals between Washington and Riyadh.
Those normalisation efforts were put on ice after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas from Gaza and Israel’s subsequent retaliation.
In a Press conference later yesterday, Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit pointed to an article in a concluding statement to the summit that moved to freeze Israel’s membership in the UN General Assembly.
He stated that freezing membership would not come under the Security Council’s jurisdiction and could be decided by the General Assembly.
“We might witness soon the freezing of the membership (of Israel) through a UNGA majority decision,” said Aboul Gheit.
The summit’s concluding statement demanded all countries ban exports or transfers of weapons and ammunition to Israel and urged the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for civilian and military officials in Israel.
Israel’s military assault on Gaza in the last 13 months has killed tens of thousands, displaced nearly its entire population, caused a hunger crisis and led to allegations of genocide at the World Court, which Israel denies.
The summit in the Saudi capital took place amid Israel’s continued rejection of a two-state solution, with one of its ministers calling yesterday for the annexation of more land through ‘sovereignty’ over the occupied West Bank and further settlement expansion, and another rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state as a ‘realistic’ goal.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Donald Trump’s election offers Israel an ‘important opportunity’ to ‘apply Israeli sovereignty to the settlements’, prompting immediate condemnation from Jordan and other countries
The summit held in Riyadh aimed to build on last year’s Arab and Islamic meeting on the same date, boosting efforts led by Arab countries to end Israel’s wars.
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