As the United States commemorated the anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the name of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia floated up in Washington, DC, from three angles, the first of which relates to the issue of the families of the victims of the attacks against Saudi Arabia, and the second is the House Intelligence Committee's consideration of the burden of Riyadh and its relations with Washington, and finally, refocusing On the case of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

Change the rules for the victims' families issue

In September 2016, Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, known as the GASTA Law, by an overwhelming majority, despite the use of former President Barack Obama's veto, which allowed families of victims of the 9/11 attacks and others to sue the "state sponsors of terrorism" before American judiciary.

The law was separated so that victims' families could file cases against Saudi Arabia and the ruling family before US courts, given that 16 of the 19 accused of carrying out the attacks were Saudis.

Yesterday, federal judge Sarah Nettburn in New York issued a ruling requiring the Saudi government to present 24 current and former officials for questioning regarding their potential knowledge of the events that led to the September 11 attacks before US courts.

Among those officials required to appear before the US courts are Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States and the father of the current ambassador, Princess Rima Bint Bandar, in addition to Ahmed Al-Qattan, one of his most important aides.

The list also included Musaad Ahmed Al-Jarrah, a former official at the Saudi embassy, ​​Fahad Al-Thumairi, an official at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, and Omar Al-Bayoumi, who the FBI suspects of working for Saudi intelligence.

According to the Yahoo news site, the judge said that the Saudi government lawyers' team claimed that there were no documents proving Prince Bandar's direct supervision of Jarrah and Al-Thumiri's work in the United States.

However, it stated that the documents obtained by the court and not declassifying the majority of them indicated that Bandar had direct knowledge of the role that the kingdom entrusted to Al-Thumairi and the diplomatic cover that was given to him.

Brett Eagleson - whose father was killed in the attacks on the Twin Towers and who works as a spokesperson for the families - described the ruling by a federal judge in New York as a "change in the rules of the game."

"This is the most important judgment we have so far in this case, that it comes on the eve of the anniversary of September 11th, there can be no better date than that, the families are cheerful," says Eagleson.

Prince Bandar bin Sultan, former ambassador to the United States (French)

Relations between the two countries under the microscope of the Intelligence Committee

Today, the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee - chaired by Representative Adam Schiff - is considering a public hearing to assess the security and intelligence relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

The committee’s statement singled out several files that represent dilemmas for the two internationals ’special and strategic relationship.

The committee highlighted the "terrorist" attack that occurred in December 2019 inside a US naval military base in Pensacola, Florida, in which a Saudi military envoy killed 3 Americans and wounded 8 others.

The investigations of the American agencies revealed that the Saudi officer cooperated with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and the attack resulted in the deportation of 21 Saudi military students who were studying at the base.

The statement indicated that the ongoing military campaign - led by Saudi Arabia and targeting civilians in Yemen - means the Kingdom's failure to hold accountable all individuals responsible for the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as well as reports that indicate Saudi Arabia's nuclear ambitions.

Woodward's Book and Khashoggi's Murder

The new book by Bob Woodward, one of the most important journalists in the world, referred to President Donald Trump's bragging that he protected Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after killing Khashoggi and dismembering his body.

"I saved him and I convinced Congress to leave him alone. I managed to convince them to stop," Trump said, according to Woodward.

Woodward met Trump several times as part of the book's preparation, phoned him again and recorded these phone calls.

Woodward mentioned in his book that Trump told him that he did not believe bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi, that he was heavily involved in the Khashoggi case, and knows everything about the whole situation.

According to Woodward, Trump has said that Saudi Arabia is spending billions of dollars on American products and that he is happy with bin Salman's claim that he is innocent.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is close to President Trump, expressed in a series of tweets his dissatisfaction with the end of the Saudi trial of those accused of killing Khashoggi.

"I am very upset at the lack of transparency in the trial of 8 unnamed people in Saudi Arabia for the murder of Khashoggi, who was a permanent resident of the United States," Graham said.

"What we do not know about these trials is more than is known. These procedures distort the reputation of the show trials. This ugly episode does not represent the change we had hoped for in Saudi Arabia's behavior," he added.

Graham confirmed his confidence that his criticism of these trials was shared by senators from both parties, noting that after two years, "we have not yet obtained Khashoggi's remains or any form of justice."

The US intelligence community believes in the involvement of senior Saudi officials in the relationship of Crown Prince bin Salman with responsibility for the killing of Khashoggi.

Many commentators expect Washington's relations with Riyadh to witness a lot of tension and collision after the end of Trump's rule.