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Biden's fist-bump with MBS seen as undermining rights pledges
The life of any politician is dotted with campaign pledges that ultimately backfire, and for Biden that list now includes his 2019 vow to make the desert kingdom a "pariah" over its human rights record.
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A handout picture released by the Saudi Royal Palace on July 15, 2022, shows Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (right) bumps fists with US President Joe Biden at Al-Salam Palace in the Red Sea port of Jeddah.
(AFP/Bandar Al Jaloud)
I
t took less than 24 hours in Saudi Arabia for US President Joe Biden to tarnish an image he has long cultivated: that of a fierce defender of human rights.
The life of any politician is dotted with campaign pledges that ultimately backfire, and for Biden that list now includes his 2019 vow to make the desert kingdom a "pariah" over its human rights record.
Similarly his solemn description, delivered last year on US Independence Day, of Washington's role on the global stage: "We stand as a beacon to the world."
It was difficult for many to reconcile those words with the single-most searing image from Biden's first visit to the Middle East as president: his fist-bump with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.
US intelligence officials believe the crown prince, Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, "approved" the 2018 operation that led to the killing and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Taken outside a palace in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, the fist-bump image was immediately distributed by official Saudi news outlets before doing the rounds on social media.
It eventually landed on the front page of The Washington Post, where Khashoggi was a contributing columnist.
