Biden won’t commit to bringing up Khashoggi’s murder when he meets with MBS

President Joe Biden on Thursday would not promise to bring up the murder of Jamal Khashoggi during his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but he said his stance on human rights was “positively clear.”

Speaking at a news conference in Israel, Biden dodged a question about whether he would speak about the murder of the Washington Post journalist when he met on Friday with MBS, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia.

‘My vision has made it positively clear. I have never been idle about human rights,” he said when asked about the meeting.

When the president pressed him again, he said his position is “clear.”

“I always bring up human rights, but my position on Khashoggi had been clear. If someone doesn’t understand in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else, they haven’t been around for a while,” he said.

Biden, 79, called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” state during the 2020 campaign after US intelligence agencies concluded that MBS ordered Khashoggi’s muder in Turkey in 2018. The journalist had written criticism about the crown prince’s reforms in Saudi Arabia.

The White House has said Biden stands behind that statement, but it has also gone to great lengths to emphasize that the president is meeting with aging King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his administration, including MBS, who is 36-year-old age Salman’s heir apparent and serves as Secretary of Defense.

Biden leaves for Saudi Arabia on Friday. He will meet the royal family that evening after he lands in Jeddah. On Saturday, he will attend the GCC+3 summit to discuss oil prices and energy issues.

“If I see the Saudi leadership tomorrow, I will send a direct message,” Biden said. “A message of peace and of the extraordinary opportunities that a more stable integrated region could bring to the region and, frankly, to the rest of the world.”

However, the president argued that he will also confirm the influence of the United States in the region to counter the growing power of Russia and China in the energy market.

“However, my reason for going to Saudi Arabia is much broader than to represent US interests,” he said at his press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid.

“I think we have a chance to reaffirm where I think we made a mistake by running away – our influence in the Middle East. I’m going to meet nine other heads of state. There are so many problems at stake. I want to make it clear that we can continue to lead the way in a region and not create a vacuum,” he said.

He was also clear that he wanted to counter the growing Russian and Chinese influence. Russia is the world’s second largest energy producer, after Saudi Arabia and China is a huge energy consumer and consumer.

“The vacuum is being filled by China or Russia – against the interests of Israel and the United States. The purpose of the visit is to coordinate with the nine heads of state,” he said.

Human rights advocates have encouraged Biden not to make the trip without bringing up Khashoggi’s murder.

Khashoggi’s widow, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, said a national security official told her Biden will mention her late husband’s name when he meets MBS.

“They assured me that they will raise this concern especially in the case of my husband, Jamal Khashoggi,” she said. Spectrum News†

Biden will be closely watched for his words, actions and body language when he is in the same room as the Crown Prince.

The White House has not said whether Biden will shake hands with MBS — a photo opportunity the prince would love but would give the president a headache among Democrats outraged by Saudi Arabia’s poor track record on the field of human rights.

Officials then said Biden would not shake hands during his four-day trip to the Middle East, saying it was an uptick in COVID cases — and no upcoming interactions with the controversial Saudi crown prince — that led to the decision.

Biden, however, got a few handshakes when he landed in Israel on Wednesday.