President Joe Biden would not commit to raising the murder of former Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi during his meetings in Saudi Arabia.
Biden vowed during his 2020 campaign to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for various human rights violations, specifically the murder of Khashoggi as orchestrated by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Reuters’s Steve Holland asked the president during Thursday’s press conference in Israel if he would raise Khashoggi’s murder in person, and Biden responded by claiming to have “never been quiet about talking about human rights.”
A TOUCHY SUBJECT: BIDEN STRUGGLES WITH NO-HANDSHAKE RULE IN MIDDLE EAST
“I always bring up human rights. I always bring up human rights, but my position on Khashoggi has been so clear,” he said. “If anyone doesn’t understand it in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else, then they haven’t been around for a while.”
Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia has received some criticism from human rights activists, and he has been pressured to raise Khashoggi’s murder and has heard from the families of 9/11 terrorist attack victims about the Saudi government’s relationship with the planners of the attack.
The president wrote in an op-ed ahead of his trip that the visit is aimed at “a new and more promising chapter of America’s engagement” in the Middle East.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I know that there are many who disagree with my decision to travel to Saudi Arabia,” he said at the time. “My views on human rights are clear and long-standing, and fundamental freedoms are always on the agenda when I travel abroad, as they will be during this trip, just as they will be in Israel and the West Bank.”
You can watch Biden’s press conference in full below.
