After the US State Department released a detailed report on what it believe to be a long list of human rights abuses in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi press, which is completely state-run, has pushed back, claiming that the US itself is one of the most egregious human rights abusers in the world.
Tensions between Riyadh and Washington were already prevalent after the US released its intelligence report on the killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The report stated that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) had probably given the order to "capture or kill" the Saudi dissident journalist in the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul in late 2018.
The Saudi press, in turn, has been accusing the US of "supporting terror, committing crimes against humanity and violating human rights," according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
MEMRI cites cases where the Saudi press is claiming the current US administration is attempting to help hostile countries such as Iran, Qatar and Turkey, while vilifying Saudi Arabia as a human rights abuser in the process.
The Saudi press alleges that the current US administration is achieving this by supporting "'terrorist' Islamist Saudi oppositionists" by removing the terrorist designation placed on the Iranian-backed Houthis, in addition to interfering within Saudi Arabian internal affairs within the pretext of championing of human rights, the report said.
By ignoring the human rights abuses in places like Iran - with whom the US is trying to renegotiate a nuclear deal with - the Saudi press believes the US criticism placed on alleged human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia is "hypocritical."
"Aren't [the Americans] the ones who are turning a blind eye to Iran's [custom of] hanging activists and journalists from lamp posts?" MEMRI quoted columnist Muhammad al-Sa'ed Lambastes saying in an article called "Ayatollah Biden."
"Do they remember... that Turkish oppositionists are abducted in [various] world capitals and [then] united with their families in Erdogan's prisons?" the journalist added.
The columnist notes that the "existential propaganda campaign against Saudi Arabia," is an attempt to get the kingdom to "embrace the terrorist agendas" and ideologies of organizations the US is currently in de-escalation talks with.
The columnist noted that within these undertones, Saudis believe that the US is aiding countries like Qatar, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan, and that the US intends to "deliver [Saudi Arabia]" to these newfound "allies," he added.
"Do you believe, oh Saudis, that those who sent your children to Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and Bosnia to fight in civil wars there are now freedom fighters?" Sa'ed said, according to MEMRI. "We know them better than you, you hypocrite Westerners.
"You spared the old serpents, so you will [have to] live with their offspring. So let us say, 'thank you, [but] you will not deceive us,'" he concluded.
Other Saudi journalists, such as Hamoud Abu Talib, claims that the US does all they do to defend international law but at the same time "blatantly violates it," MEMRI reported.
"Several US political administrations in the third millennium have adopted this primitive pattern of thought casts a dark shadow on the ideological, scientific, and independent cultural elite of US society," Talib wrote in a recent analysis.
"A country whose prestigious universities teach international law is blatantly violating this law and all laws, charters, and agreements [accepted] in international relations," he added in contention, according to MEMRI. "At the same time, its senior officials talk about their intent to interfere in the sovereignty, laws, and legislative [processes] of other countries, in the service of evil, blatant, and loathsome agendas."
"The world no longer consists of the ranges, mountains, and deserts where the cowboy could roam on his horse, drawing his gun and trampling anyone who stood in his path or opposed him," Talib mocked.
Saudi journalists are accusing the US of "political Alzheimer's” and claims the US attempts to band-aid fix problems and make concessions with terrorist organizations to bring about peace in conflicted areas, overstepping its boundaries to a certain extent.
While under former president Donald Trump relations with Saudi Arabia seemed to be at an all-time high, if the press statements in Saudi Arabia have any indication as to the kingdom's true feelings of the Biden administration and current US politics, it would seem the two are now in a stand-off.