Hebrew Website: Saudi Arabia Retaliates against Hamas by an American and Israeli Behest

A Hebrew website welcomed what it called the shock of Hamas by Saudi Arabia's imprisonment of dozens of its leaders, cadres and supporters on charges of supporting the resistance.

On August 8, 2021, the “Prisoners of Conscience” account in Saudi Arabia announced the judgments issued by one of the Kingdom's courts against dozens of Palestinian and Jordanian detainees in a session held on the same day in the case related to Hamas.

Some of them were imprisoned for 22 years, with acquittal for a few of them.

The account published the names of Palestinian and Jordanian detainees who were judged by the Saudi Terrorism Court; the most prominent of them is the judging of the former representative of Hamas to the Kingdom, Dr. Mohammed al-Khudari, (15 years imprisonment).

Saudi Arabia arrested more than 60 Jordanians and Palestinians residing in it in February 2019, among them is Al-Khudari, who is 81 years old, on charges of providing financial support to the Palestinian resistance.

 

Joint Success

The Hebrew website News One said that “Israel and the United States had succeeded in the war against smuggling operations from Saudi Arabia to the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”

The site claimed that “they are suspected of being involved in money laundering and smuggling to the military wing with the help of exchange companies in Turkey.”

In an official statement, Hamas condemned these judgments, and said: “At a time when we welcome the acquittal judgments issued against some of the brothers, we deplore the harsh and undeserved judgments against most of them.”

Hamas called the Saudi leadership for their speedy release, and to end their suffering and the suffering of their families, which has been going on for more than two years.

Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said, “The judgment is a Saudi response to the occupation's request, and that this is a political, not legal, decision.”

Noting that “Hamas does not close the door in front of Saudi Arabia and is ready to rebuild relations with it if it so desires.”

Saudi Arabia classifies Hamas as a terrorist movement, just like the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Hebrew website believes that “behind the Saudi activities against Hamas was the administration of former US President Donald Trump and Israel, which succeeded in completely separating the kingdom and Hamas.”

A senior Hamas leader, Marwan Abu Ras, said on September 12, 2019, “Saudi Arabia is getting close to Israel and opening the doors of normalization with it, through the arrest of prominent Hamas leaders in the Kingdom.”

A Crack in Relationships

The Hebrew website pointed out that the Hamas office was opened in Saudi Arabia in 1988 during the reign of King Fahd bin Abdulaziz, Muhammad al-Khudari was appointed as the official representative of Hamas there.

In 1998, King Fahd hosted the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin; he was allowed to collect donations in the Kingdom for the Gaza Strip.

King Fahd was quoted at that time as saying during the reception that he held for Sheikh Yassin: “You are in our hearts and we will stand with you until the liberation of Jerusalem.”

The first dispute in relations between Saudi Arabia and Hamas began in 2007, after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force and expelled the Palestinian Authority from it.

The former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met in Mecca a few months later and signed a reconciliation agreement.

According to the Saudis, Hamas violated the agreement, since then, relations between the kingdom and Hamas have continued to deteriorate.

Then, in 2015, the Saudi security services arrested a prominent leader of Hamas, Maher Salah, and accused him of money laundering, he spent about a year in a Saudi prison, after which he was deported to Turkey.

The site's security analyst, Yoni Ben Menachem, indicated that in October 2016, Saudi security forces arrested a prominent leader of Hamas, Nizar Awadallah, after Trump declared Hamas a terrorist organization, and after Mohammed bin Salman assumed the throne.

In February 2018, the Saudi Foreign Ministry declared Hamas a terrorist organization, this was followed by the latest wave of arrests that began in April 2019.

In Response to Pressure

Hamas accuses the United States and Israel of pressuring Saudi Arabia to arrest its activists and paralyze fundraising activities for the Gaza Strip.

Hamas believes that the Saudi royal house stabbed it in the back, because of the rapprochement between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Jared Kushner, adviser to former US President Donald Trump and his son-in-law, and his desire to get closer to Israel.

The analyst pointed out that Hamas remained silent for 5 months after arresting about 60 activists in Saudi Arabia; the arrests were initially announced by the Qatari press.

However, Hamas refused to confirm the news and tried to resolve the issue through diplomatic mediation, by several Gulf countries and prominent personalities working behind the scenes to secure the release of detainees.

After Hamas concluded that the chances of releasing the detainees had become non-existent, it issued an official statement on September 9, 2019 calling for the release of Al-Khudari, who was arrested along with his son Hani.

According to sources in Hamas, Hamas also hired Mohammad Dahlan, the dismissed leader of the National Liberation Movement (Fatah) and advisor to Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.

Ben Menachem believes that the kingdom's complete disregard for Hamas' requests to release its detainees in Saudi prisons indicates its full alliance with the United States and Israel in the case of fighting terrorism.

On September 10, 2019, the United States took a complementary step and imposed sanctions on senior Hamas figures and its affiliates abroad that participated in transferring funds to the organization in the Gaza Strip.

Analyst Ben Menachem concluded in his article that Hamas is now moving in the Arab and Islamic world to push the Saudi monarchy to pardon dozens of its activists who have been imprisoned.

Hamas says that Al-Khudari collected donations for it in Saudi Arabia with the knowledge of the authorities there; he did not work against the will of the Saudi royal house.

According to the sources, the arrest of Al-Khudari was aimed at improving the image of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in terms of fighting terrorism, and that was after the Biden administration accused him of killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi.