What do Saudis want for $360B in deals?
They’re pushing for repeal of a U.S. law that lets 9/11 victims’ families sue kingdom
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Donald Trump struck a series of deals with Saudi Arabia on his two-day visit, but the kingdom is still anxiously waiting for him to deliver on something else: the repeal of a contentious 2016 law that allows relatives of 9/11 victims to sue the kingdom for their deaths.
Saudi officials have been quietly lobbying the administration and Congress to overturn the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which led more than 800 families to file suit in New York in March.
‘No one was listening to us’
The problem: Trump supported the bill and can’t do much to change it even if he wanted to. Still, Saudis are convinced the man they consider the ultimate salesman will make a deal.
“Do you think he will agree after all these activities we are doing for him?” asked Abdulnasser Gharem, a well-known Saudi artist who went to high school with two of the 9/11 hijackers in his hometown of Namas. Altogether, 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.
Trump was welcomed like a member of the royal family in Riyadh over the weekend as he looked to restore relations with the country, which had soured during his predecessor’s tenure.
Gharem, who has incorporated the 9/11 attacks into his artwork — he says he’s forbidden from showing it in Saudi Arabia — said Saudis, too, had suffered.
“We were the same; we were victims. Someone like me in the middle of nowhere was affected by what happened in New York, but no one was listening to us,” he said.
U.S. and Saudi officials did not raise the issue publicly during Trump’s visit, the first stop on the first foreign trip of his presidency, and White House and National Security Council staff declined to comment on the issue.
A Saudi official downplayed the topic, saying the kingdom had many pressing issues to discuss with U.S. officials, including the war in Syria, threats from nearby Iran and the civil war in Yemen.
But Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Khalid al-Falih, said in an interview in March that his nation believed that the new administration and Congress would eventually reverse course, and others here see it as a major source of conflict.
“If Trump supports the JASTA, he will lose the relationship with Saudi Arabia,” Mohammed Alhamza, a social researcher and writer, said bluntly through a translator during an interview, reflecting a view heard widely among Saudis.
“Do you expect Trump will pass JASTA after (billions of) Saudi riyals went to the United States?”Alhamza asked, a reference to a series of agreements Trump and Saudi King Salman had signed totaling $360 billion in weapons sales and economic development.
‘Can’t do anything’
Like many Saudis, Alhamza thinks someone else helped the hijackers commit their sophisticated attacks, and he is angry about a law he said was passed with no evidence that his nation was to blame.
Congress passed the JASTA bill last September. President Barack Obama vetoed the measure but lawmakers quickly overrode him, handing him the first veto override of his presidency.
Trump, then a presidential candidate, criticized Obama’s veto.
“Trump is limited in his ability to change this at this point,” said Jordan Tama, a professor in the School of International Service at American University in Washington. “Trump can’t do anything to stop what’s in place.”