new paradigm in the hood?

Saudi Crown Prince: Iran's Supreme Leader 'Makes Hitler Look Good'

In a wide-ranging conversation, Prince Mohammed bin Salman also recognized the Jewish people’s right to “their own land.”

By Jeffrey Goldberg @ TheAtlantic.com, April 2

Saudi Prince Says Israelis Have Right to ‘Their Own Land’

By Ben Hubbard @ NYTimes.com,  April 3, 2018

Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince has said that Israelis “have the right to have their own land” and that formal relations between Israel and the kingdom could be mutually beneficial.

The comments by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in an interview published on Monday reflected the distinctly warmer tone toward Israel adopted recently by the de facto ruler of a powerful Arab country that once opposed Israel’s right to exist'.

Saudi Arabia and Israel still have no formal relations, and Saudi leaders have historically criticized the Jewish state for its treatment of the Palestinians and for limiting access to Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.

But the kingdom’s stance toward Israel has changed with the rise of Prince Mohammed, who is 32 and is seeking to overhaul Saudi Arabia’s economy and its place in the world. His words on Monday were actually less harsh toward the Palestinians than reports of his previous statements.

Instead of seeing Israel as an enemy, Prince Mohammed has come to view the Jewish state as an attractive regional economic and technological hub as well as a potential partner in the kingdom’s cold war with Iran.

[....]

Reflecting a divide in the Saudi leadership over how to approach Israel, Prince Mohammed’s father, King Salman, emphasized Palestinian rights in a phone call with Mr. Trump, the Saudi state news service said on Tuesday.

The king restated “the kingdom’s steadfast position towards the Palestinian issue and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital,” the king said. He made no mention of Israel.

In the interview, Prince Mohammed also played down the extent of anti-Semitism in Saudi society, which has historically been reinforced by government clerics and textbooks.

“Our country doesn’t have a problem with Jews,” Prince Mohammed said, adding that the Prophet Muhammad married a Jewish woman and that many Jews work in the kingdom [....]