Rubio says more Arab states will ‘certainly’ normalize ties with Israel this year

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserts that more Arab nations will forge ties with Israel this year, as Washington presses hard for relations to normalize with Saudi Arabia.

US President Donald Trump, near the end of his first term, led the so-called Abraham Accords in which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco became the first Arab countries in decades to normalize relations with Israel.

“I think we may have good news, certainly before the end of this year, of a number of more countries that are willing to join that alliance,” Rubio tells the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Saudi Arabia was in advanced talks on normalization, backed by then-president Joe Biden’s administration, before the unprecedented October 7, 2023, onslaught by Hamas on Israel, which responded with a massive military operation.

Asked about the Saudi position a week after Trump visited Riyadh, Rubio says: “I think there’s still a willingness to do it.”