Prince Turki Bin Faisal who currently serves as the chairman of King Faisal Foundation’s Centre for Research and Islamic Studies, attended a Bahraini summit, with the Israeli foreign minister, designed on improving relations between gulf states and Israel.
The comments made by the prince seemed to catch the Israeli delegation by surprise, with the Israeli foreign minister looking shocked and blindsided by the remarks.
Prince Turki bin Faisal opened his remarks by contrasting what he described as Israel’s perception of being “peace-loving upholders of high moral principles” versus the darker reality of Palestinians living under “Western colonising” power. Citing Israeli human rights violations, Prince Turki went on to state that Israel has “incarcerated [Palestinians] in concentration camps under the flimsiest of security accusations – young and old, women and men, who are rotting there without recourse to justice”, Prince Turki said.
“They are demolishing homes as they wish, and they assassinate whomever they want.”
This comes following what the U.N described as the ‘biggest demolition of Palestinian homes in years’. 73 people, including 41 children, were made to be homeless when their residence were knocked down in the Jordan Valley.
According to the UN office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), 76 structures -including homes, animal shelters, mosques and solar panels- were destroyed.
Israeli foreign minister Gabi Ashkenazi seemed to be gobsmacked and taken back with the comments made by the Saudi prince. Speaking immediately after the prince, Gabi went on to state his displeasure and confusion at the comments made “I would like to express my regret on the comments of the Saudi representative. I don’t believe that they reflect the spirit and the changes taking place in the Middle East.”
