Saudi prince Turki calls on US, UK to end weapon supplies to Israel

Muhammad Amn

Senior Saudi royal Prince Turki al-Faisal says “harsh talk” is not the only tool the UK and US can use to pressurise Israel to stop the Gaza genocide that is amply supplied with their weapons.

He reeled off a list of other tools the Zionist alliance could use – cutting off financial help; ending the tax-free status of Israel lobbyists in the US; denial of weapons and intelligence, and recognising Palestinian statehood.

He called in a talk at Chatham House in London on the US and the UK to do more to pressure Israel to end its Gaza genocide by denying Israel financial and military support.

“Israeli lobbyists” enjoyed tax-free status in the US because the receiver of revenue had them registered as “philanthropic or humanitarian” entities, rather than as political lobbyists of Israel. He urged Washington to end such tax exemptions in light of the ongoing genocide.

“There are many tools that are available to the United States, not simply harsh talk, which seems to have gotten us nowhere. But is America ready to do that?”

“I’m not too optimistic.”

Prince Turki said the UK had “a special responsibility for what is happening in Palestine” due to the “ill-begotten Balfour Declaration in 1917”.

He welcomed the recent UK decision to cancel 30 out of 350 arms licence contracts with Israel, but added, with 320 still fully functional, he would “like to see more done by the United Kingdom”.

“I think [it] should recognise the state of Palestine. It’s long overdue.”

He was adamant normalisation would come only when a Palestinian state with 1967 borders was established.

Prince Turki was adamant the chances of normalisation at present were slim due to Israel’s determination to wipe out all notions of a Palestinian state.

“The whole [Israeli] government is saying no Palestinian state. So how can there be normalisation between us and them with those positions in place?”

Prince Turki said only people in Gaza could persuade Hamas to give up the armed struggle: “I think the people in Gaza not only have a right to do that, but they will eventually have to do it,” he said.

But he doubted Hamas would be laying down its weapons any time soon, observing “Israel is given a free license by the world” to continue its war.

Polling during the early stages of the genocide showed over 90% of Saudis believed that Arab states should cut ties with Israel.

He wasn’t impressed with Iran and moves to warm relations with the republic, saying Teheran was still to interventionist in its affairs with Arab states, criticising Tehran’s role in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Prince Turki criticised Iran’s nuclear programme, stating that Riyadh’s historic position was that “the Middle East should be a zone free of weapons of mass destruction”.  He didn’t explain how that historic position squared with Israel’s nuclear weapons pile. It reportedly has about 200 missiles with nuclear warheads at its disposal.

Asked what would happen if Iran got its hands on nuclear weapons, he said: “My leadership has stated that if Iran gets nuclear weapons, that Saudi Arabia will also seek to acquire similar capability.”