GOP senator says Israel-Saudi normalization deal possible before year’s end

Lindsey Graham says he spoke with Netanyahu, believes agreement close, should get done ‘on Biden’s watch’ because next administration unlikely to get enough votes in Congress

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham speaks at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on state, foreign operations, and related programs hearing on Capitol Hill on May 21, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images/AFP)
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham speaks at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on state, foreign operations, and related programs hearing on Capitol Hill on May 21, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images/AFP)

MICHIGAN (Reuters) — US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and believes that an agreement to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia could be reached before the end of the year.

Graham, who is in Michigan campaigning for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, told Reuters that Netanyahu supported work on a deal with Saudi Arabia, adding that the next US administration will be unlikely to be able to secure enough votes in Congress after US President Joe Biden leaves office on January 20.

“I think the time to do this is on Biden’s watch,” said Graham, who had also met with Netanyahu earlier this month.

He said US Vice President Kamala Harris was “far more beholden to the left” and had not shown interest in working for such an agreement, but Biden was keen to see a deal get done and would be able to mobilize the needed Democratic votes.

Normalizing Israeli-Saudi relations would mark an expansion of the Abraham Accords, which were signed when Trump was in office.

The accords led to the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, meets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday Oct. 23, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool via AP)

Morgan Finkelstein, National Security Spokeswoman for the Harris campaign said: “Vice President Harris has consistently supported efforts to ensure Israel is more deeply integrated in the Middle East region, including a potential historic normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia. She believes such integration is critical to counter the threats posed by Iran.”

Democrats would be reluctant to support Trump if he won the election and the initiative slipped into next year, Graham said.

The Biden administration had been working to broker a normalization accord between the two countries that would include US security guarantees for Gulf state Saudi Arabia, among other bilateral deals between Washington and Riyadh, but those efforts stalled after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which killed over 1,200 Israelis and foreign citizens, most of them civilians, and took 251 hostages into Gaza.

Saudi Arabian officials have consistently said that normalization with Israel will only occur if there is a credible path towards a two-state solution, with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan saying earlier this year that “normalization and true stability will only come through… giving the Palestinians a state.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, October 22, 2024. (Haim Zach/GPO)

Graham expressed confidence that a credible two-state solution could be found to ensure the creation of a Palestinian state that was de-militarized and could not threaten Israel.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” he said, adding that he expected Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to be supportive, since the absence of a deal would undermine his economic goals.

Graham said there was an “opening a mile wide” for a ceasefire in Lebanon, given Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah leaders, but ensuring a lasting peace in the region also required a plan to rebuild Gaza after the war and for the West Bank, something he said should be led by Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.

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