Axios: Saudi Prince Tells Evangelicals Khashoggi Murder 'Terrible Mistake'

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman met with leaders from the U.S. evangelical community in Riyadh last week and called the gruesome murder of a dissident journalist in Turkey "a terrible mistake."

Axios reported that the crown prince, also referred to as MBS, met with Christian evangelists for two hours, a session that began with a discussion on the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

Christian author and novelist Joel Rosenberg organized the gathering and was present at the meeting.

"He said his enemies are using everything they can to exploit this situation and make it worse," Rosenberg told Axios. "He said, 'Listen, I am arresting people, firing people. Iran? When they kill people are they arresting people? No. You get promoted. What about the Russians? What about the Turks?'

"He said, 'Listen, this is a heinous act,' Rosenberg continued. "[MBS] said, 'It's a terrible mistake and we have already arrested 18 people. I fired five, we are going to get to the bottom of this and people will have to pay. It's a completely unacceptable mistake and it comes at a time that threatens all the reforms we are trying to get done. It's a disaster.'"

Khashoggi was killed Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

He had gone there to pick up documents ahead of a planned marriage, but officials say he was instead ambushed by nearly 20 Saudis who traveled from the kingdom that morning.

Reports from Turkey say Khashoggi was murdered, likely because of his status as a Saudi critic and ties to the Muslim Brotherhood movement, and his body was dismembered.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the Crown Prince told the group that Islamic extremists were targeting the Saudi regime to overthrow it, and he had been the target of a recent assassination plot.

 “We must fight the extremists and defeat them or they will stop us and the reforms we are making to make life better for the people of Saudi Arabia,” he told the delegation. “We are fighting extremists in the ideological war and we are fighting terrorists in a physical war,” he said, sketching out a plan to bolster an alliance in the region with the US and other Saudi allies.

The Post said Rosenberg’s trip came after the United Arab Emirates' Ambassador to Washington Yousef al-Otaiba, asked him to visit UAE, and suggested a trip to Riyahd. Rosenberg praised the Crown Prince for opening dialogue with Christians and Israel, and suggested the Kingdom permit Christian churches.