'Saudi prince backs cleric's bounty offer for IDF soldier'
Member of Saudi royal family pledges $900,000 as contribution to bounty after Saudi cleric receives death threats, Saudi TV reports.
By REUTERSPRC terrorists at Gaza press conference 311 (R)(photo credit: Reuters)DUBAI - A member of the Saudi royal family has pledged $900,000 to a bounty offered by a prominent cleric to any Palestinian who kidnaps an IDF soldier, according to comments aired on a private TV station on Saturday.Prince Khaled bin Talal, a brother of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, told Daleel television over the phone that he decided to contribute to Awad al-Qarni's bounty after the Saudi cleric received death threats for offering $100,000 to capture an IDF soldier.RELATED:'Hamas refuses to abandon policy of IDF kidnappings' Rabbi: Better to kill a terrorist than call the police"Dr Awad al-Qarni said he was offering $100,000 to only take a prisoner but they responded by offering $1 million to kill Awad al-Qarni," Prince Khaled said, according to a recording of the call published on Daleel's website."I tell Dr. Awad al-Qarni, 'I will be in solidarity with you and pay the remaining $900,000 to take an Israeli soldier prisoner so that other prisoners can be freed,'" he added.Qarni said on his Facebook page this week that he made the offer in response to a similar reward promised by an Israeli family for anyone who catches the person who killed one of its members in 1998, following a prisoner exchange agreement earlier this month of more than 1,000 Palestinians for the captive IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.Qarni is well known in Saudi Arabia for his outspoken views but is not part of the official clerical establishment.
