“The ramifications of not following through with what you say are much greater … no other country can influence Israel like the United States.”
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the UK has urged the Joe Biden administration to follow through on its threat to suspend weapons supplies to Israel unless dire relief aid is allowed into Gaza within the next 30 days, Politico reported.
“We have to assume that the Americans mean what they say; it would be a terrible world if they didn’t,” Prince Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud said during an interview for Politico’s Power Play podcast.
“In the past we have seen the United States make promises it didn’t fulfill and it ended up in disaster. Vis-à-vis this conflict, the ramifications of not following through with what you say are much greater … no other country can influence Israel like the United States.”
Al-Saud emphasized “We’ve had a huge amount of death in Gaza as a result of the conflict itself. But now you are seeing death and despair and lives being destroyed by no food, no medicine, no homes.”
‘Put Your Foot Down’
CNN reported on Wednesday that a letter, dated October 13, jointly written by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin demanded the Israeli government act to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within a month or risk violating US laws regulating foreign military assistance.
On Power Play, Saudi ambassador to the UK urged the US to follow through with its threat to withhold arms to Israel until Gaza aid resumes.
If the Americans don’t mean what they say, he told @annemcelvoy, “it would be a terrible world.”
🎧 Listen here: https://t.co/XOpueJNqUd pic.twitter.com/hDnqKaIY91
— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) October 17, 2024
The letter was addressed to Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer. The deadline, said CNN, falls after the US presidential election on November 5.
On Israel’s assault on Gaza, the Saudi ambassador said the US should “put your foot down” in demanding a ceasefire, Politico said.
“From the outside, it looks like the Israelis are not listening and that’s not what friends do. But eventually if you put your foot down, this elicits a response,” he said.
‘Inhumane’ Situation
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “almost everyone in Gaza is going hungry,” with no food aid having entered the northern part of the enclave since October 1.
“This is inhumane,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general stated on X on Thursday.
Almost everyone in #Gaza is going hungry according to the latest assessment. This is inhumane.@WHO calls for immediate access for all humanitarian aid, starting with food and medicine for severely malnourished children, who need to be treated urgently.
WHO continues to call… pic.twitter.com/U0YGTc8IrU
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 17, 2024
CNN reported that the list of demands by the US in the letter to Israel includes allowing at least 350 trucks a day to enter Gaza through all four major crossings, in addition to opening a fifth crossing.
Israel “must also over the next month implement humanitarian pauses across Gaza as necessary to enable humanitarian activities, including vaccinations and aid distribution for at least the next four months,” the report said.
Israel ‘More Threatened’
Politico said Al-Saud’s remarks “suggest a growing distance” between the Saudi kingdom and Israel, with the ambassador pointing out that “If the strategy is peace and security in the region, I don’t see them achieving that aim.”
“Israel is more threatened today than it has been since the 1970s. In every measurable long-term aim, I don’t see they are succeeding,” he said.
‘Constructive Talks’ – Iranian and Saudi Foreign Ministers Meet over War on Gaza, Lebanon
The report also said that Al-Saud “downplayed the regional threat from Iran.”
“We have had our differences with Iran. But I think we are pretty aligned at the moment to deescalate this situation,” he said.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
