The Saudi prince who offered Bentleys to bombers - BBC News
The Saudi prince who offered Bentleys to bombers
Pilots of Saudi planes like these were offered luxury cars by a wealthy prince
A wealthy Saudi royal attracted criticism on social media after he apparently offered luxury cars to fighter pilots participating in a bombing campaign in Yemen.
Earlier this week Saudi Arabia announced the end of the first phase of its military campaign in Yemen. And in a celebratory gesture
Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, one of the country's richest men and a member of the Saudi royal family, tweeted to his 3m followers on Twitter: "In appreciation of their role in this operation, I'm honoured to offer 100 Bentley cars to the 100 Saudi [fighter] pilots".
The offer immediately split opinion. More than 28,000 people shared his post and over 5,000 liked it. The prince was hailed for his "generosity" and several Saudis
commented that the pilots deserved luxury automobiles - and much more - for their military service.
But many outside Saudi Arabia, particularly in Yemen, found his offer outright offensive - and so an online backlash began. "100 Bentley cars to 100 pilots who bombed Yemen. Not single ambulance to its hospitals they devastated" remarked
one Yemenion Twitter.
Another Yemeni who had previously shared
photos showing the destruction of his home following a Saudi air strike tweeted: "Prince Al Waleed gave 100 Bentleys to Saudi pilots. I got my apartment blown up. Yet I bet my spirits are higher than all those pilots."
Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Al-Saud
Others pointed to the disparity between people's lives in Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, and those who live in relatively rich Saudi Arabia. "So that's what it's all about, what was it 100 or 200 lives for a Bentley, that's how cheap human life is," a Jordanian tweeted.
The original tweet offering the gifts has now been deleted, although screen grabs of it are
still circulating online. Some Saudi media are now reporting that the prince's Twitter account was hacked. But there was no mention of any hacking on his Twitter feed - and he did not respond to Trending's request for comment.
Last year the prince, who's renowned for his
lavish lifestyle and ostentatious gift-giving,
offered a local football team 25 cars after they won the Saudi championship, a move that touched off a
debate in Saudi about who should be offered gifts and who shouldn't.
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Bombing for Bentleys in Yemen?
Bombing for Bentleys in Yemen?
Saudi prince pledged cars to pilots involved in Yemen air campaign via a now-deleted Tweet.
The fighter pilots who flew in the Saudi-led Operation Decisive Storm campaign against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen were apparently promised new Bentleys by the kingdom's Prince Alaweed bin Talal, one of the richest men on Earth.
In a tweet he posted Tuesday (and subsequently deleted), the prince said, "I congratulate our wise leaders on the victory of Operation Decisive Storm and the beginning of Operation Restoring Hope. To recognize the one hundred participating Saudi pilots I am pleased to present them with 100 Bentley cars."
International Business Times posted a screen capture of the now-vanquished tweet:
The announcement was, predictably, met with
immediate criticism, as many pointed out that the last month of fighting in Yemen has resulted in large numbers of civilian casualties.
Per IBT, the World Health Organization estimates that over that time period, around one thousand people have been killed and almost 3500 have been wounded.
Not all the blowback was framed in outrage, however. For example, this Yemeni man maintained a sense of gallows humor about it all, despite the gravity of the situation:
Prince AlWaleed gave 100 Bentley's to Saudi pilots. I got my apartment blown up. Yet I bet my spirits are higher than all those pilots
— Ammar Al-Aulaqi (@ammar82)
April 21, 2015
Prince Alaweed apparently likes gifting Bentleys to people. He reportedly
handed out 25 of the cars to a Saudi soccer team last year, too.
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Yemen: Saudi prince promises free Bentleys to bomber pilots who killed 1,000
Yemen: Saudi prince promises free Bentleys to bomber pilots who killed 1,000
The price of Bentley cars starts at $180,000(Reuters)
A billionaire Saudi Arabian prince promised to give each of the 100 fighter pilots that took part in Riyadh's latest air strikes in Yemen a brand new Bentley.
Prince Alaweed bin Talal - who owns one of Saudi Arabia's largest companies, Kingdom Holdings, and owns a $300m stake in Twitter - made his promise on social media but has since deleted the Tweet.
"I congratulate our wise leaders on the victory of Operation Decisive Storm and the beginning of Operation Restoring Hope," bin Talal appeared to tweet Tuesday, following the announcement of a
new phase in the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen.
"To recognise the one hundred participating Saudi pilots I am pleased to present them with 100 Bentley cars," he said.
Prince Alaweed bin Talal's Tweet has since been deleted
But his pledge has been met with anger by Twitter users, and not just by Yemenis that have seen their homes destroyed and family members killed during three weeks of bombing during the Saudi-led Operation Decisive Storm - which officially ended last night.
At least
944 people have been killed and 3,487 wounded over the past four weeks of violence in Yemen, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.
Essam Alzamil, a Saudi blogger wrote in his Twitter account: "Am I right to think giving this type of gift is [a] sort of disregard to what [the] army does in Yemen".
هل شعوري منطقي والا مبالغ فيه. لما أشعر أن إهداء الطيارين سيارات فارهة فيه نوع من الإسفاف لما يقومون به؟
— عصام الزامل (@essamz)
April 21, 2015
Bin Talal, 60, is the grandson of Saudi Arabia's founder Ibn Saud and one of the richest men ion the world, with a fortune estimated at around $23 billion and investments in Apple, Time Warner and Citigroup.
This is not the first time the prince has used the promise of luxury cars to reward Saudi citizens. In 2014, bin Talal
gifted 25 cars, believed to be Bentleys, to members of a Saudi soccer club after their victory in a league competition.
This is so perverted!