Saudi Crown Prince: Israelis Have the Right to Their Own Land
Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said he recognizes the right of Israelis to have their own nation-state.
(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said he recognizes the right of Israelis to have their own nation-state.
"I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land," he said in an interview with Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg that was published Monday. "But we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations."
Prince Mohammed said that the kingdom “had religious concerns about the fate” of Muslim holy places in Jerusalem and about the rights of the Palestinian people but had no other concerns or objections "against any other people."
He also said that the supreme leader of Iran -- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- “makes Hitler look good.”
“He is the Hitler of the Middle East,” Prince Mohammed said. “In the 1920s and 1930s, no one saw Hitler as a danger. Only a few people. Until it happened. We don’t want to see what happened in Europe happen in the Middle East.”
The crown prince is on a three-week tour of the U.S. to promote "Vision 2030" -- an effort to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil and encourage investment in the kingdom.
To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Flatley in Washington at dflatley1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, John Harney, Joe Sobczyk
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