Bin Salman Met Evangelicals, Tel Aviv Backers in Quest for Pressure Ease

The meeting is a rare one and it seems that the crown prince seeks to repair the now much-tarnished Saudi image and push back against the pressures he has undergone over the past month.

The delegation was led on Thursday by communications strategist Joel Rosenberg and included former US congresswoman Michele Bachmann, according to an emailed statement from the group, as well as heads of American evangelical organizations, some with ties to Israel, broadcaster Aljazeera reported today.

"It was a historic moment for the Saudi crown prince to openly welcome evangelical Christian leaders to the palace. We were encouraged by the candor of the two-hour conversation with him today," the statement said.

Reports also said that the American delegation met with the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubair and the Saudi ambassador to Washington Prince Khalid bin Salman.

Seeking help of pressure groups   

The figures who arrived on Thursday in the Saudi capital are staunch supporters of the Israeli regime. They are committed to protecting the Israeli interests worldwide. For example, Mike Evans, founder of the Jerusalem Prayer Team and one of the delegation members, describes himself on his website as "a devout American-Christian Zionist leader".

The delegation is one of many pressure groups in the US with warm relations to the American President Donald Trump. Evangelists helped much to the Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election, something making the president indebted to them. Perhaps now it is time for Trump to repay.

Over the past month, Saudi Arabia’s image has been rocked by the assassination of the famous Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 but never came out. After three weeks of silence, Saudi Arabia admitted the Washington Post columnist was killed “accidentally” at the diplomatic place. But Turkey rejected the Saudi story, insisting that it was a preplanned assassination of bin Salman detractor.

On Wednesday the Turkish public prosecutor stated that Khashoggi was strangled and dismembered at the consulate, the first official confirmation by Ankara that the Saudi government was behind the killing.

The killing drew worldwide outcry, with the fingers unanimously pointed at Prince Mohammed as the one who gave the orders to 15 agents to kill the US-based writer.

Prince Mohammed has been a target board of many sharp blames over the past few weeks coming by the global public opinion and media. That is not all, however. The closest allies of the oil-wealthy kingdom also condemned the killing and talked about boycotting arms deals with Riyadh.

The German Angela Merkel of Germany last week maintained that no arms will be delivered to the kingdom until a credible explanation of the murder is given. Other European allies showed a tough tone towards their Arab ally.

The reactions brought forth huge trouble to the 32-year-old ambitious prince, branded by the Western media the de facto ruler. They are right because just before the Khashoggi case, he was shining in the Western media as a champion of reforms in the ultra-conservative monarchy and was preparing to replace his father King Salman bin Abdulaziz

But, to his frustration, things changed after Khashoggi was killed. While Trump walked a fine line between supporting the prince and saying the killing explanation was not enough, some of the American lawmakers called for sanctions on Saudi Arabia, triggering the Global Magnitsky Act, which sanctions foreign governments and individuals. Some voices in the US even said that bin Salman is no longer a favorable Washington choice to ascend the throne in the absolutely-ruled kingdom.   

Seeing the situation badly going against him, bin Salman now plays his own cards. Meeting the evangelical and pro-Israeli delegation may be the first step. This will help him tell the pro-Israeli voices in the US that he is in favor of normalization if he becomes a king.

Tel Aviv did not hide its support for the naïve young ruler. Yesterday, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the crown prince “strategic ally” when he called the officials at the White House to continue support for him.

The Israelis and their American allies are throwing their weight behind bin Salman for a simple reason: He is a man against Iran, a strong obstacle in front of their expansionist projects in West Asia region. And if he becomes king, he will do much to serve their agenda in the region.