Defeating Hamas will lead to peace with Saudi Arabia, Gallant says

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday told the Conference of Presidents at a meeting at the ministry's headquarters in Tel Aviv that, “Our goal is simple – victory. Only victory against Hamas will allow us to achieve normalization and regional integration.”

Gallant was providing a security situation assessment to 50 leaders of the top North American Jewish organizations and prominent communities. 

The defense minister's point was that, contrary to what some argue, continuing the war to destroy Hamas will advance, not derail, normalization with countries like Saudi Arabia.

He explained that normalization would be part of making a truly new Middle East and that such a transformed region cannot emerge as long as a terrorist force like Hamas continues to try to drag Israel, other neighbors, and history backwards into war all of the time.

In fact, many have commented that the timing of Hamas's invasion of southern Israel came shortly after Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman publicly stated that Israeli-Saudi normalization was closer than ever.

One problem with Gallant's statement is that the Saudis themselves have demanded an immediate end to Israel's war on Hamas as well as for Jerusalem to refrain from invading Rafah, as a condition to return to the normalization track.

Further, the Saudis have said that Israel's continuing the war, and many killed Palestinian civilians, has delayed normalization.