On July 9, Mujtahidd posted a series of tweets about the key Saudi figures who were involved in Saudi-Israeli relations in the last few decades. He wrote: “I had promised to talk to you about the key figures in Saudi-Israeli relations during the last few decades. Here are the details, and I ask God to grant me support and success in this endeavor. Throughout the past decades, Israel was contacted via two channels. The first was Saudi in general, while the second was exclusive to Salman, from the day he was Prince of Riyadh until he reached the thrown. The first channel was run by Adel al-Jubeir, back when has was a young trainee under Bandar bin Sultan at our embassy in Washington, and was appointed by the latter as his aide for congressional affairs. His mission was to reach the renowned Zionist lobby AIPAC, in order to secure Congress’ support...

“Since Al-Jubeir had no religious or national commitments, he was the perfect man to approach and work harmoniously with AIPAC, and consequently facilitate Bandar’s mission of earning Congress’ backing. One of the results of this harmony was the establishment of direct relations with Israeli officials, the earning of Israel’s trust, and the coordination of the positions from behind the scenes in regard to regional affairs. This relationship thus affected the Kingdom’s position towards the Palestinian cause, the Madrid and Oslo conferences, Lebanon, the Palestinian resistance in it, Iraq and Iran among others. When King Abdullah reached the throne, [Khalid] At-Tuwaijri [then Chief of the Royal Court] who believed in Israel’s greatness, managed to convince the King to appoint Al-Jubeir as Ambassador to America, to facilitate his direct coordination with them [the Israelis].

“And when Salman reached the throne, his son Mohammed was adamant to convince Israel that the Kingdom’s policy was in line with its own, which is why he appointed Al-Jubeir as Foreign Minister upon Saud al-Faisal’s death. By then, Al-Jubeir had become a star among the Zionists, who were calling him the Michael Jordan of Saudi Arabia… Indeed, to the Israelis and America’s Zionists, Al-Jubeir was the best young man in Saudi Arabia, due to his dissociation from religion and pan-Arabism, and the leniency he showed in dealing with them. And Al-Jubeir’s channel was based at our embassy in America and represented the Kingdom as a whole, while the second channel was exclusive to Salman bin Abdul-Aziz… Salman was the owner of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group that publishes Asharq al-Awsat newspaper and Al-Majalla magazine, which was then more fiercely opposed to religion than MBC today.

“And to accomplish his mission, Salman chose two figures from Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, i.e. then Chief Editor Othman al-Omeir and journalist Abdul Rahman ar-Rashed, who was later promoted as you all know. Salman chose the latter two in particular due to their dissociation from any religious or national commitments, which qualified them to carry out this treacherous mission while distancing himself from the direct contacts. According to circles close to Al-Omeir and Ar-Rashed, they regularly met with Israeli figures in Morocco since the beginning of the 90s, as representatives of Salman personally. By doing so, Salman wanted to secure his future in power and beat his brothers by pledging to Israel that he would offer more concessions than they would if [the Israelis] were to help him push into the queue.

“But Salman was unaware of the fact that his brothers had secured their position with America and Israel and that he would not be able to push into the queue, which is why his turn only came after he already had Alzheimer’s disease. Salman thus strengthened his son Mohammed’s relationship with Al-Omeir and Ar-Rashed to secure an understanding with Israel and make him the first Saudi king to proclaim the opening of an Israeli embassy in Riyadh. This is why Mohammed bin Salman views Ar-Rashed and Al-Omeir as great and sacred men…, and why he fears them and does not deal with them arrogantly. And as it is usually the case when it comes to all his decisions, which he takes without any regard for warnings and balances, it is not unlikely to see Bin Salman announcing an advanced step at the level of the relations with Israel very soon.”