Research centre headed by Israeli official incites against Saudi Arabia

A research centre closely associated with the decision-making circles in Tel Aviv has attacked Saudi Arabia and accused it of supporting terrorism by means of its relations with the Sunni Syrian opposition forces and Hamas, Arabi21’s Saleh Al-Naami reported today.

The Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs, headed by Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dore Gold, issued a statement on its website today, saying: “The new leadership in Riyadh, led by King Salman Bin Abdulaziz has strong ties with Jaysh Al-Islam, which fights Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, despite being a terrorist organisation, and Hamas, which fights Israel.”

The centre claimed that Saudi decided to change its dealings with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas in order to improve its status and position in the on-going fight with Tehran, making its relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas more valuable.

“The developments and shifts in Riyadh suggest that the Muslim Brotherhood, which was declared a terrorist group during the reign of King Abdullah, has now been removed from the list of terrorist organisations given the relationship with Hamas,” said the centre.

“King Salman, who met with an official Hamas delegation during the summer, pressured the Egyptian government to meet with a Hamas delegation two weeks ago,” noting “a Hamas delegation will be arriving in Riyadh soon.”

The centre warned the West against “falling victim to Saudi Arabia’s misguidance, as it claims to combat terrorism while it has relations with the terrorist group Hamas.”

The Jerusalem Centre also believes that Saudi Arabia’s relationship with Hamas contradicts Riyadh’s announcement of the formation of a Muslim alliance against terrorism.

In attempt to justify its criticism of Saudi Arabia, the centre tried to provoke Europeans by linking the justification of some Muslim scholars, who the centre claimed to be associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, of carrying out operations and attacks against the Israeli occupation to the recent bombings in Europe.

It referred to the fatwa made by Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi in 2001 and statements made by Hamas official, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, justifying attacks against Israeli occupation forces during Al-Aqsa Intifada.

Decision-makers in Tel Aviv warned against counting on any relationship with Saudi Arabia, stating its government is only concerned with preserving the ruling government in Riyadh.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Channel 2 revealed that the Israeli government convinced the American administration not to supply Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE with advanced aircrafts.

The channel’s political analyst, Audi Segal, said that despite the fact that relations between the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama are tense, the latter still responded to Netanyahu’s request not to supply the Gulf states with advanced models of the F-15 aircraft.