September 09, 2023 07:06 PM
President Joe Biden greeted the Saudi crown prince he once vilified with a hearty handshake and a smile on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, India, on Saturday.
Biden was seen meeting with Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman shortly after a session in which world leaders announced plans to set up a rail and shipping corridor linking India, the Middle East, and Europe, according to reporting from the Associated Press. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the host of this year’s G20, was standing nearby and quickly placed his hands on top of the handshake.
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The apparently warm reception is quite different from the chill felt when the two men last encountered each other in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2022. Biden famously “fist-bumped” the crown prince at that meeting, a gesture that came under fire both from those who felt it was awkward and unbecoming of a president and critics who were upset Biden acknowledged bin Salman at all. The Saudi royal has been implicated in the 2018 assassination of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Central Intelligence Agency concluded in a 2019 report that he explicitly ordered the killing in retaliation for Khashoggi’s criticism of the government and the Saudi monarchy.
Bin Salman, 38, is considered the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, even though his father, King Salman, remains on the throne. The king suffers from serious health complications, and in the last 10 or so years his seventh son has consolidated control over several key state councils. He was named prime minister in 2022.
Biden condemned Khashoggi’s murder and on the presidential campaign trail in 2020 threatened to make Saudi Arabia under bin Salman a “pariah.” He reportedly declined to speak with the crown prince early in his presidency, but that changed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused energy prices to spike in the United States and around the world. Biden’s meeting with bin Salman in Jeddah was aimed at convincing the Saudi government to increase oil production.
When asked about that first encounter by reporters, Biden said the prince told him he was “not personally responsible” for the death of Khashoggi. “I indicated I thought he was,” the president said he replied.
Khashoggi, who wrote for the Washington Post, was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Turkish officials have said the journalist was tortured and killed inside the consulate, and his body dismembered. It is believed the assassination was carried out by men with links to Saudi Arabia’s intelligence and internal security apparatus. Eleven individuals were later put on trial in Saudi Arabia in connection with Khashoggi’s murder; five were sentenced to death, three were sentenced to prison, and three were acquitted.
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The scandal stemming from Khashoggi’s killing marked a new low in U.S.-Saudi relations, coming around the same time members of Congress released a formerly secret report that found some of the 9/11 hijackers were in contact with and received support from individuals in the Saudi government.
Over the last year and a half, the Biden administration has worked to bring Saudi Arabia into the coalition of countries closing ranks against Russia and its allies. The president is also reportedly brokering what could be a massively consequential diplomatic agreement to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.