AFP USA

Donald Trump mocked pop star Taylor Swift after the singer was booed Sunday at the Super Bowl during the Kansas City Chiefs defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles.Trump — who became the first sitting US President to attend the Super Bowl in Sunday’s showpiece in New Orleans — left the game shortly after half-time.However the US President could not resist posting a social media dig at Swift, who was in the crowd to watch her boyfriend, Chiefs star Travis Kelce.The Chiefs would go on to suffer a bruising 40-22 defeat at the Superdome. “The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. “She got BOOED out of the Stadium. MAGA is very unforgiving!”Trump had earlier shared a post from a different account mocking Swift, which contrasted Trump’s reception by Super Bowl fans with that of the singer.Trump was given loud roars of applause when he was shown on the giant screen inside the stadium, saluting while singing the US national anthem.”Trump gets massive cheers at the Super Bowl while Taylor Swift gets booed – the world is healing!” the post read.Swift was a prominent celebrity backer of Trump’s US presidential election rival Kamala Harris last year.Her endorsement prompted Trump to post on Truth Social: “I hate Taylor Swift.”

Kendrick Lamar commanded one of the world’s most high-profile stages Sunday as the Super Bowl’s halftime headliner, yet another feather in the cap of the rap laureate who has ascended to new heights of pop stardom.Lamar performed a string of his classics while toying with his audience who had one major question: would he perform “Not Like Us,” the searing diss track that served as the knockout blow in his eyebrow-raising rap battle with Drake?In a word? Yes.The wildly infectious hit released in May 2024 hears the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lamar — the first solo rap artist to helm a halftime show at the Super Bowl, which this year saw the Philadelphia Eagles pummel the Kansas City Chiefs — use his punchlines to accuse Drake of pedophilia.”I wanna perform their favorite song,” he said at one point during the 13-minute set — the Grammy-winning track’s ubiquitous, instantly recognizable bass line resounding — “but you know they love to sue.”He offered his classics like “Humble” and “DNA” as well as tracks from his most recent album “GNX” — he began the set atop the Buick Grand National it’s named for — including “Squabble Up” before sending fans into a frenzy in delivering the goods, a knife-twisting rendition of “Not Like Us.”Lamar dropped the profanity and the world “pedophile” but didn’t stop short of the money line, rapping “tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A-minoooooor” on live television in front of tens of thousands of spectators and an estimated 100 million viewers.In delivering the lyric “say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young,” Lamar stared right into the camera, dancing on the Canadian rapper’s rap-battle grave while sporting a chain with a massive pendant — a lower-case a.The performance is all but sure to kick off more legal wrangling: Drake, the reigning highest-grossing rapper, recently filed a bombshell defamation suit against his own record label Universal Music Group, which also represents Lamar.Drake is notably suing UMG and not Lamar himself, but questions abounded leading into the Super Bowl set over whether performing the song on one of the top global stages could open the door to further litigation.- Uncle Sam, surprise protestor -“Not Like Us” dominated the set but it was also a performance that paid homage to the 37-year-old rapper’s expansive oeuvre.Born in Compton, California, the artist is renowned as one of contemporary music’s most impactful writers, with his verses offering personal insights that take on systemic issues such as race relations and structural poverty.His poignant lyricism soundtracked the Black Lives Matter movement and compelled many to call him the voice of a generation.Lamar brought some of that energy to the Super Bowl stage, which included set narrator, the actor Samuel L. Jackson, dressed as Uncle Sam, a character emblematic of American patriotism that has frequently appeared in military propaganda.Lamar didn’t make any direct references to Donald Trump — who several weeks into his second go at the presidency attended the game — but rather used the platform to offer a more symbolic critique of the marginalized treatment of both hip hop and Black Americans at large.”No, no, no, no, noooo. Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto. Mr Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up,” Jackson quipped at one point.Troupes of dancers dressed in red, white and blue at one point coalesced into an American flag formation.Before his climactic delivery of “Not Like Us” — which just one week ago scored Lamar five Grammys — the artist brought SZA, who he’s due to tour with, onstage.Their duet included a performance of “All the Stars,” their hit off the “Black Panther” soundtrack.Another notable cameo came from Serena Williams, the tennis legend who also hails from Compton — and who briefly dated Drake.The set was also punctuated by a protestor who unfurled a flag in support of Gaza and Sudan during the performance, a moment production company Roc Nation told AFP was not rehearsed.”The individual hid the item on his person and unveiled it late in the show,” said the NFL, who added the protestor was part of the 400-member field cast.The protestor was seen in AFP photos standing atop Lamar’s centerpiece car, wielding the flag emblazoned with images of heart and a fist as well as the words “Gaza” and “Sudan.”The person was later tackled and escorted out by security.

A trio of top Trump administration officials will make separate trips to Europe this week, with security and Washington’s commitment to Ukraine expected to be at the heart of their discussions.President Donald Trump — pushing his “America First” agenda — has questioned US security commitments in Europe and called on allies to drastically boost their defense spending, while his administration has been largely quiet so far on his plans for future Ukraine aid.Washington gave Kyiv tens of billions of dollars in military assistance under president Joe Biden, but Trump’s administration has yet to provide additional aid despite several billion dollars in remaining authority carrying over from his predecessor’s time in office.Vice President JD Vance will take part in an AI summit in France and then attend the Munich Security Conference in Germany along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will subsequently travel to the Middle East.”The vice president will deliver remarks at each event and will hold bilateral meetings with world leaders,” according to the White House.Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth will meanwhile visit the headquarters of two US military commands in Germany before attending a meeting of NATO defense ministers and a gathering of Ukraine’s international supporters in Belgium, then travel to Poland for talks with its leaders.Rubio — who was a regular at the Munich conference in his previous role as a US senator — has already traveled to Latin America as secretary of state, but the trips this week will be Vance’s and Hegseth’s debuts on the international stage in their new roles.In a sign of the new administration’s priorities, Hegseth’s first trip as defense secretary was to the southern US border, where Trump declared a national emergency on his first day in office.- Seeking ‘increased European leadership’ -In Brussels, Hegseth “will engage with NATO allies and partners to discuss the need to boost allied defense spending, increase European leadership, and expand defense industrial base capacity on both sides of the Atlantic,” the Pentagon said.At the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group — which will be chaired by the UK instead of the United States for the first time — Hegseth “will reiterate President Trump’s commitment for a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine as quickly as possible,” according to the Pentagon.”He will also highlight the need for increased European leadership on security assistance to Ukraine.”Trump has repeatedly criticized US assistance for Kyiv and claimed before taking office that he could secure a ceasefire within hours — a result that has yet to materialize.His comments triggered fears in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe about the future of US aid, and Kyiv’s ability to withstand Russian attacks in the absence of further American support.Trump has also rocked some of Washington’s closest partners by announcing tariffs against fellow NATO member Canada — which were later paused — and threatening to do the same to the European Union.The targeting of US allies has further undermined confidence in America’s commitment after Trump already cast doubt on his willingness to help protect Europe, while the US president has also menaced NATO member Denmark by vowing to take control of its territory Greenland.Hegseth said in remarks to Pentagon employees on Friday that part of “America First” is empowering US allies and partners “to be combat multipliers, to add to the capabilities that we have.”But he also emphasized that Washington wants other countries to take on greater burdens: “America can’t be the guarantor of everything forever,” he said.

President Donald Trump has taken a wrecking ball to Washington — and his latest target is the US Department of Education.Trump has described it as ineffective, wasteful and dominated by radical leftists, and in an interview airing Sunday told Fox News he would order Elon Musk, the man leading his cost-cutting efforts, to turn his sights next on the Education Department.Underscoring his intention, the Republican president had earlier directed Linda McMahon, his education secretary nominee, to “put herself out of a job.” Democratic politicians, teachers’ unions and many parents are in an uproar, calling Trump’s plan to shut down the agency an assault on public education.Conservative groups, on the other hand, hail it as a long-overdue measure to reassert local control over American classrooms. But they acknowledge that the task of winding down the vast department will not be easy. Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, the country’s largest labor union, said closing down the Education Department would be devastating for students with disabilities, low-income students and other children at risk.”If it became a reality, Trump’s power grab would steal resources for our most vulnerable students… and gut student civil rights protections,” Pringle said, adding that the union will oppose the plan.- Traditional federal role -Gutting the Education Department is part of a broader effort by Trump and his tech billionaire advisor Musk to radically trim the US federal government. The administration has already attempted to close down the US humanitarian agency and to put thousands of federal workers on leave. It has also offered buyouts to tens of thousands — efforts that sent shock waves around Washington and that are now being challenged in courts.Traditionally, the federal government has had a limited role in education in the United States, with only about 13 percent of funding for primary and secondary schools coming from federal coffers, according to the NEA, the rest being funded by states and local communities.But federal funding is invaluable for low-income schools and students with special needs.And the federal government has been essential in enforcing key civil rights protections for students, such as the historic 1954 Supreme Court ruling that ended racial segregation in public schools, or a 1990 federal law guaranteeing access to education for students with disabilities.”There’s been a traditional federal role in trying to make sure that the most disadvantaged kids get what they need. And the civil rights enforcement is important,” said Mike Petrilli, president of the Thomas Fordham Institute, a right-leaning think tank.Trump has shown a willingness to use federal power to regulate school policy. Earlier this week he issued an executive order to ban transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports in schools and universities.Lindsey Burke, head of education policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation, hailed Trump’s plan to get rid of the federal department, saying it has failed to improve academic standards, with American students continuing to lag behind their international peers. Burke argues that education decisions must be made at the local level.”Kids in South Carolina are different than kids in California, right? I mean, this is the United States, it’s a vast and diverse country,” said Burke. “It is no service to families to put those dollars in the hands of distant federal bureaucrats who do not know these children’s names or their hopes or dreams or aspirations.”- A question of legality -But putting the education secretary out of a job might be easier said than done.By law, the Education Department can be shut down only by an act of Congress, and most experts agree Trump lacks the votes to do that.”This is mostly a talking point, it’s not going to happen,” said Petrilli. “A few weeks from now, I think this will be in the rearview mirror.”It’s unclear how the Trump administration will proceed with its efforts to dismantle the department. Burke said it might seek to move some of its key units — civil rights enforcement, student loan servicing, statistics — to other agencies.But Kevin Carey, head of education policy at the liberal New America think tank, fears the administration is now in a “strange territory of extralegality” and will not be shy about dismantling the agency one way or another. “I think the question isn’t, ‘Will Congress abolish the Department of Education?’ It won’t. The question is, ‘Will Trump destroy the Department of Education on his own?” Carey told AFP.Trump’s education secretary pick, McMahon, is a former professional wrestling executive with little experience in education — and known for once slapping her daughter during a televised wrestling match.McMahon’s US Senate confirmation hearing is set for Thursday.

Prosecutors will begin to tell a jury Monday how Hadi Matar allegedly staked out the venue where Salman Rushdie was giving a talk before lunging at the “Satanic Verses” author, blinding him in one eye.Matar, a 27-year-old Lebanese-American, is on trial for attempted murder and assault over the August 12, 2022 attack at an arts gathering in western New York state.He is accused of stabbing Rushdie about 10 times, leaving him in grave condition and without sight in his right eye.The Indian-born writer, a naturalized American based in New York, has faced death threats since his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” was declared blasphemous by Iran’s supreme leader.Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, in 1989 calling on Muslims anywhere in the world to kill Rushdie.Hezbollah endorsed the fatwa, the FBI has said.Matar had told the New York Post newspaper that he had only read two pages of Rushdie’s novel but believed the author had “attacked Islam.”Rushdie, now 77, suffered stab wounds in the neck and abdomen before attendees and guards could subdue the attacker, later identified by police as Matar.Matar will be tried in Chautauqua County Court, with the world’s media descending on the small town of Mayville to follow the case.The defendant, who has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, also faces a separate trial for terror charges in federal court.Prosecutors are expected to focus on the mechanics of the brazen attack and the bountiful video and eyewitness evidence, rather than Matar’s ideological motivation, US media have reported.- Proud of ‘Satanic Verses’ -Rushdie lived in seclusion in London for the first decade after the fatwa was issued, but for the past 20 years — until the attack — he lived a relatively normal life in New York.Last year, he published a memoir called “Knife” in which he recounted the near-death experience.”Why didn’t I fight? Why didn’t I run? I just stood there like a pinata and let him smash me,” Rushdie wrote.”It didn’t feel dramatic, or particularly awful. It just felt probable… matter-of-fact.”Tehran denied any link to the attacker — but said only Rushdie was to blame for the incident. Rushdie explained in “Knife” that the attack has not changed his view on his most famous work. “I am proud of the work I’ve done, and that very much includes ‘The Satanic Verses.’ If anyone’s looking for remorse, you can stop reading right here,” he said.Rushdie has said that he did not want to attend the fateful talk, and two days before the incident he had a dream of being attacked by a gladiator with a spear in a Roman amphitheater.”And then I thought, ‘Don’t be silly. It’s a dream,'” he told CBS.

Donald Trump arrived at the Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday, making history as the first sitting US President to attend a Super Bowl.A presidential motorcade whisked Trump to the venue in downtown New Orleans after he jetted in from Florida on Air Force One.Trump appeared briefly on the Superdome field following his arrival, and met with first responders and family members of victims of the January 1 attack in New Orleans that left 14 people dead and dozens wounded. Trump, who began his day by playing golf with Tiger Woods in Florida, heads a galaxy of VIPs and celebrities attending Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.The US leader’s presence at the game marks a new chapter in what has often been a tense relationship with the NFL, who he has routinely accused of being too progressive. Speaking in a pre-recorded interview with Fox before Sunday’s showpiece, Trump said his decision to attend the Super Bowl was for the good of the country.”I thought it would be a good thing for the country to have the president be at the game,” Trump told Fox. “It’s an iconic day. It’s going to be a great game, two great teams, and let’s see what happens,” Trump said, revealing that he was tipping Kansas City for victory, citing the record of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who is eyeing his fourth Super Bowl win.In a separate message issued by the White House earlier Sunday, Trump said the Super Bowl was an opportunity for a divided nation to come together.”Football is America’s most popular sport — for good reason — it fosters a sense of national unity, bringing families, friends, and fans together and strengthening communities,” Trump said. “This annual tradition transcends our differences and personifies our shared patriotic values of family, faith, and freedom,” added Trump.The US president was a staunch critic of the NFL during his first term and sparked uproar in 2017 by disparaging players who kneeled during the playing of the US national anthem in protest at racial injustice.Players at this year’s Super Bowl have broadly welcomed his attendance, with Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes saying it will be “cool” to play in front of Trump.Fans also appeared to welcome Trump’s decision to attend the Super Bowl, with some crowding around television monitors at the venue to watch his pre-game interview.”I think it is awesome, congratulations to him for being the first president to make it,” Bob Benderovich, a Philadelphia Eagles fan from Fort Myers, told AFP.While some fans expressed hope that Trump would not seek to politicize the occasion, others were indifferent.”He can do what he wants,” said Philadelphia fan Cal Johnson. “This is the Eagles game, it’s the Eagles v Chiefs and we came down for that.”Cole Champagne, a Kansas City Chiefs fan from Lafayette, Louisiana, also applauded Trump’s attendance.”It’s pretty cool, I didn’t realize that it’s the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl — so that’s pretty cool and I feel like that makes it mean a little more,” Champagne told AFP.Trump will not be present to watch the climax of Sunday’s game. According to a White House schedule released earlier Sunday, he will leave the Superdome at around 8.05pm local time, well before the game is decided.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned that US tariffs on Europe would hike inflation for Americans, as he vowed in an interview aired Sunday to go head-to-head with Donald Trump over financial threats.Macron told CNN that the EU should not be a “top priority” for the United States after Trump’s repeated threats to target the bloc, having already ordered tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. “Is the European Union your first problem? No, I don’t think so. Your first problem is China, so you should focus on the first problem,” he said, speaking in English.Macron warned that tariffs would harm European economies but also the United States, given the level of economic ties.”It means if you put tariffs on a lot of sectors, it will increase the costs and create inflation in the US. Is it what your people want? I’m not so sure,” he said.Asked if he was willing to go “head-to-head” with Trump on the issue of tariffs, Macron replied, “I already did so, and I will did (sic) it again.”He said the EU must be ready to react to US actions, but stressed that the 27-nation bloc should mainly “act for ourselves.””This is why, for me, the top priority of Europe is competitiveness agenda, is defense and security agenda, is AI ambition, and let’s go fast for ourselves. “If in the meanwhile, we have (a) tariff issue, we will discuss them and we will fix it.”

US President Donald Trump said in remarks aired Sunday that Elon Musk, who is presiding over a purge of government jobs, will help find “hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud” in federal agencies. Speaking in a Fox News interview aired before the Super Bowl football championship, Trump said the American people “want me to find” waste and that Musk, the world’s richest man and the leader of the president’s cost-cutting efforts, has been “a great help” in rooting out unnecessary spending.”We’re going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse. And, you know, the people elected me on that,” Trump told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier.During his three weeks in office the president has unleashed a flurry of executive orders aimed at slashing federal spending. He has appointed SpaceX and Tesla boss Musk to lead his federal cost-cutting efforts under the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).The administration has highlighted several government projects Trump believes should be ended or curtailed, but evidence of any widespread illegal activity or fraud has not been presented.Musk has already taken unprecedented steps to shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID), laying off thousands of employees. On Friday, a federal judge ordered a temporary pause to the administration’s plan to put 2,200 USAID workers on paid leave. In the interview, Trump claimed there was “hundreds of millions of dollars of money that’s going to places where it shouldn’t be going.” Trump said in his interview that over the next day or so he will order Musk to turn his government scalpel to the Department of Education, a frequent target of Republican ire.”Then I’m going to go to the military,” Trump said, reiterating his call for a review of spending at the Pentagon, whose budget totals some $850 billion.Trump also doubled down on a scheme to annex Canada, saying the United States’ northern neighbor “would be much better off being a 51st state, because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada.”Since taking office, Trump has characterized billions of dollars in daily bilateral trade as a US “subsidy” and claimed without evidence that Canada would not be “a viable country” without it. Trump threatened Canada and Mexico with a 25-percent tariff on all imports, suspending the measures after striking deals with both countries on plans to curb illegal immigration and the trafficking of fentanyl into the United States.Both countries secured a one-month delay after the 11th-hour talks with Trump, but on Sunday the US leader warned what had been done so far was “not enough.””Something has to happen, it’s not sustainable, and I’m changing it,” he said, when asked if both countries needed to do more before the 30-day deadline. – ‘Evisceration of democracy’ -The role of Musk, a top Trump donor and ally, in the president’s projects has faced criticism in part because his companies have had billions of dollars in contracts with the US government — more than $20 billion, according to House Democrat Mark Pocan.Asked whether he trusts Musk to fairly root out wasteful spending, Trump appeared to assert that the wealthy entrepreneur and his businesses are not benefiting financially through Musk’s work with DOGE.”He’s not gaining anything,” Trump said.Democrats have lined up to slam Trump’s various efforts, including Senator Chris Murphy, who on Sunday warned of an “assault on the Constitution” and said Trump was ushering in a “billionaire takeover of government.””The president wants to be able to decide how and where money is spent so that he can reward his political friends, he can punish his political enemies. That is the evisceration of democracy,” Murphy told ABC News talk show “This Week.”House Speaker Mike Johnson, the top Republican in Congress, has repeatedly downplayed concerns that Trump is exceeding his authority or rushing too quickly to overhaul the federal government, including agencies like USAID.”I’m not uncomfortable with the pace of this,” Johnson told “Fox News Sunday.”The speaker described Musk as “an outside auditor” whose team is uncovering “incredible abuses of the public fisc,” referring to the total amount of money a government has to spend. Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz declined to say Sunday whether he believed it was a conflict of interest to have Musk, whose companies hold government defense contracts, oversee cost-cutting at the Pentagon.”Everything there seems to cost too much, take too long and deliver too little to the soldiers,” Waltz told NBC of Pentagon expenses. En route to the Super Bowl, Trump flew over the Gulf of Mexico, which he has ordered renamed the “Gulf of America,” and signed a proclamation recognizing February 9 as “Gulf of America Day.”

The Kansas City Chiefs aim for a historic hat-trick of Super Bowl titles on Sunday when they take on the Philadelphia Eagles in front of a star-studded crowd in New Orleans headed by US President Donald Trump.Trump will become the first sitting president ever to attend the NFL showpiece when he takes his seat among a sell-out crowd of around 74,000 fans at the Superdome for the biggest annual event in the American sporting calendar, which kicks off at 5:30pm local time (2330 GMT).Pop superstar Taylor Swift will also be in the VIP seats to watch as her boyfriend Travis Kelce and his fellow Chiefs bid to become the first team in history to lift three consecutive Vince Lombardi Trophies.Trump’s presence at the NFL showpiece will mean even tighter security than normal around an event which was already bolstered by a heavy police presence following a New Year’s Day attack which left 14 people dead and many more injured on the Big Easy’s famous Bourbon Street.Trump has had a strained relationship with the NFL stretching back several decades, and triggered uproar during his first time in 2017 when he attacked the patriotism of players who kneeled during the playing of the US national anthem in a protest against racial injustice.Speaking in a pre-game interview aired on Fox News, Trump said his decision to attend this year’s Super Bowl was for the good of the country.”I thought it would be a good thing for the country to have the President be at the game,” Trump told Fox. “It’s an iconic day. It’s going to be a great game, two great teams, and let’s see what happens,” Trump added, revealing that he was tipping Kansas City for victory, citing the record of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who is eyeing his fourth Super Bowl win.”When a quarterback wins as much as he’s won, I have to go with Kansas City,” Trump said. “I have to go with Kansas City.”Trump was due to fly into New Orleans from Florida, where he reportedly played a round of golf with Tiger Woods earlier Sunday. A schedule released by the White House said he is expected to leave the Superdome at around 8.05pm local time, well before the game reaches its conclusion.Super Bowl fans on Sunday welcomed Trump’s attendance at the game.”I think it is awesome, congratulations to him for being the first President to make it,” Bob Benderovich, a Philadelphia Eagles fan from Fort Myers, Florida, told AFP.- Chiefs favorites -As always, the Super Bowl crosses over into popular culture and the half-time show this year will feature hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar, who had a clean sweep at last Sunday’s Grammys, winning in all five categories for which he received nominations.Bookmakers and casinos meanwhile are taking odds on whether Chiefs star Kelce will propose to pop icon Swift after what might be his final game in the NFL. For the more serious punters, the oddsmakers have the Chiefs as slight favorite for the game, a rematch of the Super Bowl from two years ago which the Chiefs won by three points.They defended their title last year, beating the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas and putting them one win away from an unprecedented “three-peat.”The 29-year-old Mahomes will become one of just four quarterbacks in National Football League history to have won more than three Super Bowls should he triumph again, having first led the Chiefs to Super Bowl glory in 2020.But the Eagles have added serious offensive firepower since their defeat two years ago with mobile quarterback Jalen Hurts joined by the game-changing speed and power of running back Saquon Barkley.The Chiefs put the finishing touches to their game preparations Saturday with a 30-minute walkthrough of a mock game.Chiefs coach Andy Reid saluted his team’s attitude to training over the whole week since arriving in Louisiana.”I thought the guys worked hard, they got done what they needed to get done,” Reid said.The Eagles had a similarly relaxed final session before going to the Superdome on Saturday for a team photo.Head coach Nick Sirianni said his Eagles were “hungry” and “ready to roll.””We’re ready for the challenge against a really good team,” Sirianni said.

US President Donald Trump’s plan to take over Gaza will imperil attempts to forge landmark ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel and fuel anti-American sentiment in the oil-rich kingdom, analysts said.Trump’s proposal to redevelop Gaza and oust the more than two million Palestinians living in the territory prompted a global backlash and enraged the Arab world, making it difficult for the Saudis to consider normalisation.”If this is going to be his policy, he shut the door on Saudi recognition of Israel,” James Dorsey, researcher at the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore, told AFP.Recognition of Israel by Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, is seen as a grand prize of Middle East diplomacy intended to calm chronic tensions in the region.But Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter and the Middle East’s largest economy, now faces the spectre of instability on its borders if neighbouring Jordan and Egypt suddenly house large numbers of Gaza exiles.At the same time, Riyadh must maintain cordial relations with Washington, its long-time security guarantor and bulwark against key regional player Iran.”When it comes to security, Saudi Arabia has nowhere to go but to Washington,” Dorsey said. “There’s nobody else. It’s not China. They’re not willing and they’re not able. “And post-Ukraine, do you want to rely on Russia?”- Quick reaction -The Saudis were engaged in tentative talks on normalisation via the United States until the outbreak of the Gaza war, when they paused the negotiations and hardened their position.They reacted with unusual speed to Trump’s proposal, made during an appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.About an hour after his comments, at around 4:00 am Saudi time, the foreign ministry posted a statement on X that “reaffirms its unequivocal rejection of… attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land”.In the same statement, the Saudis rejected Netanyahu’s comment that normalisation was “going to happen”, repeating their insistence there would be no ties without a Palestinian state.Trump’s plan carries real risks for Riyadh, which is throwing everything at an ambitious post-oil economic makeover that relies on stability to attract business and tourism.If Gazans are displaced to Egypt and Jordan, it “will weaken two countries essential to regional stability and particularly to Saudi security”, said Saudi researcher Aziz Alghashian.”Trump’s plan, coupled with Netanyahu’s approach, poses major risks for Saudi Arabia. “It highlights that they are not true partners for peace in Riyadh’s eyes — especially Netanyahu, who appears to want all the benefits without making concessions.”- ‘Making normalisation harder’ -Trump’s declarations “will further destabilise the region and fuel anti-American sentiment, particularly in Saudi Arabia”, said Anna Jacobs, of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.”He is making Saudi-Israel normalisation harder, not easier.”Andreas Krieg of King’s College London said Saudi Arabia would not agree meekly to normalisation if ordered by Washington.Prior to the Gaza war, the Saudis were negotiating for security guarantees and help building a civilian nuclear programme in return for Israeli ties.”They are not a US vassal state and so they’re not just taking a diktat from Trump,” said Andreas Krieg of King’s College London.”And I think it will stand firm on their positions, willing to negotiate here and there. But the principal red lines remain.”Nobody in Saudi Arabia has an interest in selling out Palestinian statehood. That is the last and the most important bargaining chip that the Saudis have in terms of authority and legitimacy in the Arab and Muslim world.”But the question is how Saudi Arabia and its 39-year-old de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will proceed.”I don’t think that the Saudis will take any major steps now,” said Krieg.”They obviously have their own levers that they can use for pressure on America, particularly in the energy sector. I don’t think the Saudis will want to use it at this point.”