Top Biden aide to visit Israel, Saudi Arabia; US official: IDF won’t expand Rafah op before then

WASHINGTON — US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will depart on a trip to Saudi Arabia and Israel at the end of the week, a senior US official tells The Times of Israel.

In Riyadh, Sullivan will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss the long-shot US effort to broker a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The deal is conditioned on Israel agreeing to establish a pathway to a future Palestinian state — a nonstarter for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is highly influenced by far-right coalition partners ideologically opposed to a two-state solution.

In Israel, Sullivan will meet with Netanyahu and discuss Israel’s planned operation in Rafah. The US is working to convince Israel not to further expand its offensive in Gaza’s southernmost city and has received assurances from Jerusalem that the IDF won’t do so before he arrives, the US official says, confirming reporting on the Axios news site.

But Netanyahu has shown no indication that he will limit the offensive in Rafah, which he argues is essential to the “total victory” over Hamas that he’s promised.

Sullivan’s visit will come after US President Joe Biden confirmed last week that he had halted the transfer of thousands of bombs to Israel in protest of the planned Rafah invasion, and threatened to prevent the shipment of additional arms if Israel goes ahead with the operation.