"Israel" wants Biden to improve ties with Saudis, his party not
"Israel" is becoming an increasingly vocal supporter of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Arabia in Washington of course for its own benefits in the region.
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US President Joe Biden and Israeli PM Naftali Bennett.
Iran is not the only Middle Eastern country on which "Israel" and the US appear to disagree. Israeli officials and prominent Democratic senators are also in conflict over the White House's chilly relations with Saudi Arabia.
The Biden administration has fallen short of its vows to make Saudi Arabia a global pariah since taking office in January 2021. However, US-Saudi ties deteriorated during that period, particularly after the administration's February 2021 intelligence report chastising Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the heinous murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.
The Biden administration has reached a tipping point with Riyadh as a result of the ongoing Iran nuclear deal talks and Russia's military operation in Ukraine. Most urgently, the US wants Saudi Arabia to significantly increase oil production to prevent prices from rising in the face of Russian sanctions and domestic inflation.
Read more: US-Saudi relations, from friends to foes
Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has declined, citing an existing deal with OPEC and other partners. Reports revealed that last month, Crown Prince Mohammed also refused to engage with Joe Biden, which only made matters worse. Despite a White House denial, it exemplifies the present condition of US-Saudi relations, which is exacerbated by the Kingdom's stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and worldwide Russia sanctions.
Officials in "Israel" are anxious that a stalled US-Saudi rapprochement will cause a domino effect, leading to US withdrawal from the Middle East and the creation of a power vacuum for Iran to fill. Others are concerned that Saudi Arabia will then position itself strategically with China and Russia.
Saudi Arabia and "Israel" openly share intelligence on Iran, and a hypothetical Saudi realignment would place "Israel" in a difficult position with its vital partners.
Regional importance
Last Thursday, the Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, expressed Israeli concerns, emphasizing the necessity for the US to repair relations with the Saudis for the sake of regional security – particularly in light of the US' prospective re-entry into Iran nuclear deal.
“I understand the US concerns, but I think Saudi Arabia is a hugely important actor in our part of the world and the Islamic world as a whole. And it’s important, in my view – to the extent possible – to fix relations between the US and Saudi Arabia,” Herzog said at a breakfast event organized by the Al-Monitor website that focuses on the Middle East.
“Certainly if you’re going to do an Iran deal, I think it’s extremely important to our part of the world that this will be done,” Herzog continued, adding that “strategically speaking – and I’m not ignoring all the difficulties – I think that [relations improving between the United States and Saudi Arabia] is very important for our region.”
Another aspect of "Israel's" backing for reconciliation is the hope that Saudi Arabia will formally sign normalization agreements, following previous signatories of the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco in mending relations with "Israel".
“'Israel" continues to seek to normalize relations around the region – and Saudi Arabia is the crown jewel,” says Atlantic Council Nonresident Senior Fellow Carmiel Arbit.
“An Abraham Accords peace agreement won’t be possible without Saudi-US rapprochement, but "Israel" certainly doesn’t shy from acting as a broker for those seeking improved relations with Washington. But this is a long-term ambition,” she says, adding that “their immediate fear that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [nuclear deal] will embolden Iran and its proxies is once again bringing "Israel" closer to its Sunni Muslim allies – who share these concerns.”
“A recalibration of the U.S.-Saudi partnership is long overdue.”
— Rep. Gerry Connolly (@GerryConnolly) April 13, 2022
Our full letter to Secretary Blinken ⬇️ https://t.co/dRwVRf4uxH pic.twitter.com/zo7KX63HFB
“Our continued support for the Saudi monarchy, which systematically and ruthlessly represses its citizens, targets critics all over the world, carries out a brutal war in Yemen, and bolsters authoritarian regimes throughout the Middle East and North Africa, runs counter to US national interests and damages the credibility of the United States to uphold our values,” wrote the lawmakers, who included Reps. Gregory Meeks and Adam Schiff, who chair the Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees, respectively.
