Saudi Arabia cracks down on anti-Israel sentiment, arrests citizens for incendiary speech – report

Citizens of Saudi Arabia have been increasingly arrested for sharing anti-Israel sentiments on social media in recent months, Bloomberg reports, amid concerns by Riyadh that the war between Israel and Hamas, as well as attacks launched by other Iranian proxies, will send the Middle East spiraling into an all-out war.

Among those detained recently was an executive at a company involved in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to strengthen the economy, Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The executive had reportedly made comments about the Gaza war that were deemed incendiary.

Another detainee had reportedly called for Saudi citizens to boycott American-owned brands operating in the Gulf kingdom.

Speaking to Bloomberg, a source close to the Saudi government says that the arrests stem from concerns that pro-Iranian influences will harm the country’s security.

The report states that there are no precise figures on the number of arrests made since October 7.

The crackdown comes as the United States continues to work with Riyadh on finding a path to normalization with Israel.

In a visit to the Gulf state earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that intensive work has been done over the last week to try to forge an agreement to this end, and that the deal is “potentially very close to completion.”