Saudi Arabia has intensified its arrests of citizens for posting on social media criticizing Israel's war against Hamas in Palestine, according to Bloomberg reports.
The retaliatory airstrikes by Israel on Gaza have resulted in the deaths of over 34,000 Palestinians, sparking widespread anti-Israel sentiments across the Arab world and in Western nations, including the US, where violent clashes have erupted on university campuses.
The recent surge in Saudi arrests related to Gaza-related posts indicates a firm stance by Prince Mohammed's regime against dissent regarding the normalization of ties with Israel—a topic the kingdom was previously discussing with the US before recent events complicated matters on 7 October. However, there is no precise data on the number of arrests made by Saudi Arabia since then.
A Saudi man, who frequently visits a family member detained for a pre-war online post in a prison south of Riyadh, has reported a significant increase in the number of inmates at the maximum-security facility over the past six months.
Saudi Arabia, along with regional allies like Egypt and Jordan, is alarmed by socail media protest, fearing that Iran and Islamist groups could exploit the conflict to incite uprisings. Memories of the Arab Spring, which occurred more than a decade ago, remain fresh among regional leaders, who are eager to prevent a recurrence, as per Bloomberg reports.
