Senior Saudi prince condemns Trump's 'opportunistic' Jerusalem move
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DUBAI - Former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal has criticized US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, in one of the sharpest reactions emanating from the US-allied kingdom.
In a letter to Trump published in a Saudi newspaper on Monday, Prince Turki, a former ambassador to Washington who now holds no government office but remains influential, called the move a domestic political ploy which would stoke violence.
"Bloodshed and mayhem will definitely follow your opportunistic attempt to make electoral gain," Prince Turki wrote in a letter published in the Saudi newspaper al-Jazeera.
"Your action has emboldened the most extreme elements in the Israeli society ... because they take your action as a license to evict the Palestinians from their lands and subject them to an apartheid state," Prince Turki wrote.
"Your action has equally emboldened Iran and its terrorist minions to claim that they are the legitimate defenders of Palestinian rights," he added, referring to the kingdom's arch-foe Shi'ite Iran.
