The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is cutting ties with a charity chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, becoming the latest western organization to take a step back from Saudi Arabia and the Crown Prince himself following the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Oct. 2.
Saudi officials deny MBS, as the Crown Prince is known, had any role in the killing, however many analysts say it would have been impossible for him not to have been involved. The prince’s reputation in the west, once bolstered by trips to meet heads of government and by lavishly-funded advertising campaigns, has been hit hard by the Khashoggi affair.
The Gates Foundation revealed on Nov. 1 it had suspended all its future work with the Misk Foundation, a charity founded and chaired by bin Salman. The Gates Foundation had pledged $5 million to Misk, which runs an initiative called the Grand Challenges Program giving grants to health and development-related applicants.
In a statement, the Gates F..