Saudi journalists and intellectuals threw their support behind Israel, accusing Hamas of acting on behalf of Iran in retaliation for tightened U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
By MEMRI via JNS.org
The latest round of fighting between Israel and Gaza sparked many reactions from Saudis on Twitter.
Noteworthy among these responses were tweets, some by prominent intellectuals and journalists, siding with Israel and expressing hope for its safety and victory, while attacking Hamas and its policy, in particular its firing of rockets.
Some wrote that Hamas was acting on orders from Iran, in retaliation for the United States tightening sanctions on the Islamic Republic on May 3. It should be noted that this is not the first time Saudi intellectuals and academics have openly expressed support for Israel and criticized Hamas.
The following are some of the tweets:
Liberal Saudi author and intellectual Dr. Turki Al-Hamad described the latest flare-up in Gaza as a predictable and ever-repeating scenario, while blaming it on the troubles plaguing Iran and Turkey. He tweeted: “It’s a repeating loop: rockets [are fired] from Gaza into Israel, Israel bombs [Gaza], someone or other mediates, the fighting stops—and the common Palestinian folks pay the price. This is ‘resistance,’ my friend. Iran and Turkey are in trouble, and the Palestinians are paying the price.”
Senior Saudi journalist Muhammad Aal Al-Sheikh, who writes for the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah, tweeted that the firing of rockets from Gaza is carried out on orders from Iran, in retaliation for the tightening of American sanctions: “The Persian ayatollahs have instructed their servants, Hamas, to escalate [the conflict] with Israel, and they obeyed. […] The Persians are tightening the pressure on the U.S. and Israel in retaliation for [U.S. President Donald] Trump’s decision, and the victims are the people of Gaza.”
Saudi intellectual and researcher ’Abd Al-Hamid Al-Hakim, the former director of the Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies in Jeddah, who frequently writes in support of Israel, expressed hope for peace with this country and its people, and called on the region and the world to take responsibility and confront Hamas.
He tweeted: “Our hearts are with you. May Allah protect Israel and its people. We will not let the treacherous hand of Iran and its agents in Gaza reach the Israeli people. It’s time to say this out loud: confronting the terror of Hamas is the responsibility of all the countries in the region and of the international community [as a whole], not only of Israel. I say to the Arabs: Do you want these murderers and agents of Iran to rule Jerusalem?!”
Muhammad Al-Kahtani, a Saudi user from Riyadh, tweeted: “[Message from] Saudi Arabia: We stand with our cousins in Israel following the terror attack of the terrorist Hamas, [in which] over 200 rockets have been fired on unarmed civilians. May Allah protect Israel and give it victory over the terrorist Hamas and everyone who supports it.