From the Liveblog of
Sunday, May 5, 2024
US says no Saudi defense pact without Israel normalization: ‘Can’t disentangle one piece from others’
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US national security adviser Jake Sullivan says that Washington will not agree to a defense pact with Riyadh unless there is a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
“The integrated vision is a bilateral understanding between the US and Saudi Arabia combined with normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, combined with meaningful steps on behalf of the Palestinian people,” Sullivan tells The Financial Times. “All of that has to come together… you can’t disentangle one piece from the others.”
“I do expect in the months ahead that you will hear from the president and others of us more of the… of the path that we believe could produce a more secure Israel and a more peaceful region,” Sullivan says.
“All we can do is work out what we think makes sense, [and] try to get as many countries in the region on board with it and then present it, and it will ultimately be up to the Israeli leadership and frankly ultimately the Israeli people can decide whether that’s a path they want to take or not,” he says.
On Friday, the US State Department also pushed back on reports that either the US or Saudi Arabia would support a deal that wouldn’t include the normalization component.
The Times of Israel Community.