WATCH | 'Civil disobedience brought down British empire': Saudi prince says Hamas should learn from India

A Saudi Arabia prince, Turki Al Faisal, cited India’s independence movement as an example as he was speaking on October 7 Hamas’s onslaught on Israel and said all occupied people have a right to resist their occupation, even military.

Turki Al Faisal, who was Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief for 24 years and also served as country’s ambassador to London and the US, said: “All military occupied people have a right to resist their occupation, even militarily. I do not support the military option in Palestine. I prefer the other option: civil insurrection and disobedience. It brought down the British empire in India and the Soviet empire in eastern Europe.”

“Israel has overwhelming military superiority and we see in front of our eyes. the devastation and oblivion, it is bringing to the people of Gaza,” he added.

The statement was made by Turki Al Faisal during his speech at US’ Rice University in Houston and was widely acknowledged as the clearest indictor so far of what the Saudi Arabia leadership is thinking on the situation in the ongoing Israel-Palestine war.

‘No heroes, only victims’

The Saudi prince slammed both Hamas and Israel and said there are “no heroes in this conflict, only victims.”

He further said, “Hamas’ acts went against Islamic injunctions against the killing of innocent children, women and elders. The injunction is also against the desecration of places of worship.”

“I categorically condemn Hamas’ targeting of civilian targets of any age of gender, as it is accused of. Such targeting belies Hamas’ claims to an Islamic identity,” the ex-diplomat and spy chief said.

Israel of “indiscriminate bombing of innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza” and the “indiscriminate arrest of Palestinian children, women and men in the West Bank”.

Saudi prince condemns Hamas

Intensifying his condemnation for Hamas Turki Al Faisal said, the attack by the Palestinian terror group’s has given “high moral ground to an Israeli government that is universally shunned, even by half of Israeli public as fascist, miscreant and abhorrent.”

#WATCH: ‘There are no heroes’ in Hamas-Israel conflict. ‘Only victims,’ says former Saudi intelligence chief. #Gaza https://t.co/SZigSJbLN7

(Video credit: Baker Institute for Public Policy) pic.twitter.com/3KNqa1GzXG

— Arab News (@arabnews) October 18, 2023

"I condemn Hamas for giving this awful government the excuse to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its citizens and bombing them to oblivion. I condemn Hamas to further undermining the Palestinian Authority as Israel has been doing," the Saudi prince said.

'Condemn Hamas for sabotaging Saudi attempt to peaceful resolution'

Faizal further claimed that the attack by Hamas has also sabotaged the attempt of Saudi Arabia to reach a peaceful resolution of the Israel-Palestine row.

The Saudi prince also accused Israel of "indiscriminate bombing of innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza" and the "indiscriminate arrest of Palestinian children, women and men in the West Bank".

"Two wrongs don't make a right," he added.

Turki Al Faisal slams West for phrase 'unprovoked attack'

In his speech, Faisal also condemned the West for saying the Hamas attack was totally unprovoked.

"I have been hearing a repeated phrase in American media: unproved attack. What more provocation is required to make it provoked than what Israel has done to the Palestinian people for three quarters of a century," he said.

"I condemn Israeli colonists for rampaging through houses of worship in Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. I condemn Israel for destroying Palestinian homes and olive orchids. I condemn Israel for incarcerating Palestinian women, children and men in concentration camps without recourse to due process," the Saudi prince said.