Herzog says Saudi normalization would be a win over Hamas, pushes back on Qatari PM’s hostage remark

President Isaac Herzog calls for Saudi Arabia to normalize ties with his country as that would be a win against Hamas.

Herzog tells the Munich Security Conference that one of the aims of Hamas when it attacked Israel on October 7 was to disrupt talks to establish ties with Riyadh.

“That is why moving on with Saudi Arabia will clearly be a victory over what Hamas did,” he argues. “And that is why I truly believe that moving forward to normalization and making whatever efforts that can be made is a very important, historical opportunity.”

Herzog confirms meeting yesterday with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who he says is making “major efforts” toward the return of the hostages.

“It’s complicated, it’s difficult. One has to make sure that we know whether there is anybody who makes decisions on the other side,” Herzog says. “After all, you’re dealing with people who are being hidden and scattered all around Gaza, mostly in the tunnels and we have to know their whereabouts. We are worried about the medication that came in and according to our data and information, it hasn’t been received yet — or by some of them, but most of them we don’t know.”

He then appears to reject the Qatari premier’s comment that ending the Israel-Hamas war shouldn’t be conditioned on a hostage agreement.

“If one wants to move on and find a horizon and end this dire situation, which was initiated by Hamas in cruelty of unprecedented record… one has to resolve the issue of the hostages and bring them back home safely and as soon as possible,” the president says.

The president also reveals Israeli forces operating in Gaza found a book titled “The End of the Jews” that was written by Mahmoud al-Zahar, a cofounder of the Hamas terror group.

“This book first of all says we should not recognize the fact that there are Jews and Jewish people, but most predominantly it hails the Holocaust. It hails what the Nazis have done, and calls for nations to follow what the Nazis have done,” Herzog says, noting Munich’s proximity to the Dachau concentration camp.

At the end of Herzog’s remarks, several freed hostages and their relatives who attended his speech chant to the audience: “Bring them home now!”

חזק! בסוף נאומו של הנשיא @Isaac_Herzog בועידת מינכן #MSC24 חטופים שחזרו משבי חמאס ובני משפחות של חטופים החלו לצעוק לעבר הקהל: Bring them home now

A heartbreaking moment when the hostages that came back from Gaza call upon the audience in the #MSC24 to BRING THEM HOME pic.twitter.com/IpgjJImOB7

— Antonia Yamin אנטוניה ימין (@antonia_yamin) February 17, 2024