Israel Welcomes Trump’s Demand for Diplomatic Ties With Saudi Arabia
New York Times · LC · trust 64/100
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Israeli officials greeted the possibility of normalized ties, but analysts said the U.S.-Saudi nuclear deal nonetheless remained bad for Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet commented on the agreement.
Listen · 4:10 min Share full article 0 Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., last year. Credit... Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times By David M. Halbfinger
Israeli officials warmly welcomed the possibility of establishing diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia, but analysts suggested that Mr. Trump’s demand may offer a substance-free distraction from a deal that remained unmistakably bad for Israel.
The president’s statement on social media instantly led the news agenda in Israel, where the signing of the U.S.-Saudi agreement had been met with alarm on Wednesday, raising concerns of a Middle East arms race and fears that the country’s most powerful ally was forging its own path in the region, independent of Israel.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to remain silent on the deal itself. But he seized on Mr. Trump’s demand for normalization of Saudi-Israeli ties to assert that the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran had “created the possibility to expand the circle of peace.”
“As President Trump has said, Saudi Arabia’s joining of the Abraham Accords would be an historic leap forward for peace in the Middle East,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement. “Peace through Strength.”
But national-security analysts cast doubts on the value of Mr. Trump’s promises, given that Saudi Arabia’s leaders have conditioned normalizing ties with Israel on solid progress toward a Palestinian state, which Mr. Netanyahu adamantly opposes.
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