Report: Netanyahu decides not to seek normalization with Saudis before US election
Israel’s Channel 12 suggests PM is waiting to see who is elected to White House this fall before deciding on approach to Riyadh
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly decided not to pursue potential normalization with Saudi Arabia before the US presidential election in November.
According to a report Sunday on Channel 12 news, Netanyahu made the decision because of the fast-moving US political developments, with the consideration that it might be worth waiting to see whether Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump is returned to the White House in the upcoming vote.
The unsourced TV report suggested that the decision has major implications, including for talks toward a possible hostage-ceasefire deal, since potential normalization would have constituted a “safety net” for Netanyahu: If his right-wing coalition were to collapse during disagreements over a Gaza deal, normalization with Saudi Arabia would have given him an election-boosting trump card and the opportunity to secure a historic legacy.
The report comes barely a week after an Israeli official told reporters during a briefing in Washington that a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia was still possible before the November presidential election, and that Netanyahu discussed the matter with US President Joe Biden during their White House meeting.
Just before Netanyahu left for Washington, Biden announced that he would no longer be seeking reelection in November, and since then, current Vice President Kamala Harris has clinched the Democratic nomination, gearing up for a fierce battle against Trump for the White House.
Normalization efforts between Israel and Saudi Arabia have been floated repeatedly in the years since the 2020 US-brokered Abraham Accords, when Israel established diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. Trump-era officials have often claimed that relations between Jerusalem and Riyadh would have since been cemented had Trump been reelected later that year.
Under the Biden administration, however, significant steps were taken toward securing such a deal, and the move was said to be on the brink of fruition just before the October 7 Hamas onslaught, which triggered the ongoing Israeli war on Hamas in Gaza, with two Israeli ministers even visiting Saudi Arabia just days before the terror group’s massacre in southern Israel.
Even in the months since, however, US officials indicated that the Saudis were still open to moving forward with normalization, with officials in Riyadh leaving the door open.
But in recent weeks, with the US Congress wrapping up its summer session ahead of the November election, the elusive deal has appeared further away. The normalization deal was always an uphill battle, since Saudi Arabia was demanding that Israel agree to establish a pathway to a future Palestinian state — a framework Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected and which, if adopted, could cause his far-right coalition partners to bolt.
Meanwhile, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is slated to host Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas this week in Saudi Arabia.
A Palestinian official told The Times of Israel last week that with a normalization agreement effectively off the table until at least the US presidential election, Abbas and bin Salman will try and coordinate their approaches to Washington, preparing for either Harris or Trump to enter the White House in January.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
