Trump drops demand for Saudi normalization with Israel

The Trump administration’s nixing of the previous demand that Saudi Arabia recognize Israel is regarded as a major concession.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

US President Donald Trump has compromised on an earlier demand that the Saudis normalize relations with Israel as a condition for civil nuclear cooperation talks between the US and Saudi Arabia.

The Trump administration’s nixing of the previous demand that Saudi Arabia recognize Israel is regarded as a major concession.

During the Biden administration, normalizing relations with Israel was seen as an essential element of a broader defense deal between Saudi Arabia and the US.

Although Biden proposed expanding the Abraham Accords, enacted by the previous Trump administration, to include Saudi Arabia, Riyadh has repeatedly insisted that concrete steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state are a precondition for normalization.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the notion of a Palestinian state, particularly in the wake of Hamas’s invasion of Israel during which the terror group murdered 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, 59 of whom are still in Gaza.

In the Abraham Accords, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan normalized relations with Israel.

During an April visit to Riyadh, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that Saudi Arabia and the U. S. were on a “pathway” to establishing a civil nuclear deal.

“When we have something to announce, you will hear it from the president. Any reports on this are speculative,” US National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt told Reuters when asked to comment.

Despite the compromise on normalizing relations with Israel, sources report that several hurdles remain before a deal is imminent.

One potential issue is Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act, which allows cooperation with other nations to develop nuclear capabilities but includes nonproliferation measures, such as limits on uranium enrichment.

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, has said the Kingdom seeks to enrich uranium and sell it.

Israeli Opposition leader Yair Lapid warned of a possible “nuclear arms race” in the Middle East if such a deal goes through.He said it was “inconceivable” that the prime minister would be silent while “a deal is being crafted that will cause a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and could result in nuclear capabilities falling into the wrong hands.”

Israel-Saudi relationssaudi normalizationTrump administration