The Saudi prince said
* the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land.
* Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, is worse than Hitler. Hitler tried to conquer Europe. … The supreme leader is trying to conquer the world
* he recognizes the right of the Jewish people to have a nation-state of their own next to a Palestinian state
* he divided the Middle East into two warring camps: what he called the “triangle of evil,” consisting of Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Sunni terror groups; and an alliance of self-described moderate states that includes Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Oman.
* Before 1979 there were societal guardianship customs, but no guardianship laws in Saudi Arabia,” he said, referring to a hinge year in Saudi history, in which the Iranian revolution, as well as an extremist Sunni siege of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, caused a conservative backlash in the kingdom.
* For 1,400 years, Muslims have been trying to spread the word of God. In the Middle East, in North Africa, in Europe, they weren’t allowed to spread the word. That’s why they fought to spread the word. But you also see that, in a lot of countries in Asia—Indonesia, Malaysia, India—Muslims were free to spread the word. They were told, “Go ahead, say whatever you want to say, the people have free will to believe whatever they want to believe in.” Islam, in this context, was not about conquering, it was about peacefully spreading the word.
* Today, every human has the right to choose their belief. In every country, it is possible to buy religious books. The message is being delivered. We have no duty anymore to fight to spread Islam. But in the triangle of evil, they want to manipulate Muslims, to tell them their duty as Muslims—their dignity as Muslims —requires the establishment of a Muslim empire.
* Israel is a big economy compared to their size and it’s a growing economy, and of course there are a lot of interests we share with Israel and if there is peace, there would be a lot of interest between Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and countries like Egypt and Jordan.
Israel and Saudi meeting in Egypt
The Saudis are no longer viewing Israel as ‘greatest enemy in region’. Top Israeli and Saudi Arabian officials reportedly held a series of secret meetings in Cairo in early March 2018, ahead of US President Donald Trump’s expected unveiling of his long-awaited Middle East peace plan.
The Saudis granted Air India permission to fly through Saudi airspace to Israel, a first in 70 years.
The talks — held at a luxury hotel, with Egyptian officials present — also dealt with the economic interests of Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, particularly in the Red Sea region.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia have a growing strategic partnership
Egypt and Saudi Arabia have a growing strategic partnership.
Egypt seeks investment from oil-rich Saudi Arabia to help develop the Suez Canal area, where Cairo wants to establish an international transport, logistics and production hub.
Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab world, and Saudi Arabia, one of the wealthiest, tightened their longstanding alliance after Sissi led the military overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013, with Riyadh providing tens of billions of dollars in aid. As Sissi has consolidated power and global oil prices have fallen, however, the emphasis has shifted to investment.
Egypt will allocate about 1000 square kilometers to support the planned $500 billion Saudi megacity.
The Saudi prince recently replaced the kingdom’s military chief of staff and other defense officials in what appeared to be an attempt to rethink tactics in the stalemated war in Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition has been battling Iran-allied Shiite rebels known as Houthis since March 2015. The war had killed more than 10,000 people and devastated the Arab world’s poorest country, while the Houthis remain firmly in control of the capital and much of the north.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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