Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah condemned the war
in Gaza Friday as a "collective massacre" and a crime against
humanity, but stopped short of directly condemning Israel for its ground
campaign against Hamas.
Unlike past
Gaza wars, including the devastating 2008 offensive, the Saudi monarch did not
condemn Israel outright for the conflict, which officials say has killed at
least 1,500 Palestinians, mainly civilians, since it began on July 8. Israel
says 63 of its soldiers and three civilians in Israel have been also killed.
Instead King
Abdullah appeared to suggest that both Israel and Hamas were responsible,
saying that the violence in Gaza has led to "various forms" of
terrorism whether from groups, organizations or states.
"All of
this is happening while the international community is watching silently with
all its institutions and organizations, including human rights
organizations," he said in prepared remarks read out by a presenter on
state television. "This silence has no justification."
But the king
did not call for any specific action to be taken against Israel in his remarks.Continue..
The 90
year-old monarch's apparent balancing act was indicative of the recent shift in
regional politics, where Egypt's leadership and other states opposed to
Islamist parties have cracked down on groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood,
which spawned Hamas. They have also warned their citizens against joining
radical Jihadi groups running rampant in places like Iraq and Syria.
In his
remarks, the king pressed Muslim leaders to unite against extremism, saying
terrorists are wrongfully carrying out deadly acts in the name of Islam and
tarnishing the religion's "purity and humanity."
His remarks
appeared to be directed at groups like the Islamic State and its allies, which
have taken over territory in Iraq and Syria and whose fighters view the
Western-allied Saudi ruling family as enemies.
"It is
shameful and disgraceful that these terrorists are doing this in the name of
religion, killing the people whose killing Allah has forbidden, and mutilating
their bodies and feeling proud in publishing this," the statement said.
"They have distorted the image of Islam with its purity and humanity and
smeared it with all sorts of bad qualities by their actions, injustice and
crimes."
The swing in
Saudi rhetoric, particularly toward Israel, is rooted in the turmoil that swept
through Egypt and saw the ousting of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi from
power last year and the branding of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group
in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Source: YahooNews
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