Saudi Arabia 'detains people' for anti-Israel social media posts

Saudi Arabia has reportedly launched a crackdown on citizens who express views critical of Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza online. 

The claims in a Bloomberg report on Wednesday come as US officials suggested talks are under way over a Saudi-Israel normalisation deal.

According to the report, citing unnamed diplomatic sources, the detentions include an executive who works for a company involved in Vision 2030, the flagship economic project spearheaded by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the person was arrested in connection with expressing “incendiary” views on the current Israel-Gaza conflict. 

A second detainee is a media personality whom Bloomberg reports saying “Israel should never be forgiven”, and another is someone who called for a boycott of US fast food restaurants in the kingdom. 

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