Netanyahu delays normalization with Saudi Arabia amid tensions with Biden

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to postpone a Saudi normalization deal until after the US elections in November, N12 reported on Sunday night, as the region braced for the possibility of an Iranian-Israeli war.

The Prime Minister’s Office had no immediate response to the report.

Robert Satloff, the Segal Executive Director of The Washington Institute posed on X, formerly Twitter, that he didn’t believe the report.

“The two old warriors - @POTUS and @netanyahu - seem to be playing a game of chicken. Biden lets it leak that he has taken the Saudi deal off the table because he knows Netanyahu wants it and he wants to pressure Bibi,” Satloff wrote.

“For his part, Bibi then takes the deal off the table himself as a message back to Biden that he can’t be pushed around.”

Saudi-Israeli normalization has long been a primary goal for Netanyahu and was one of his top policy goals when he returned to office in December 2022.

US President Joe Biden and Netanyahu had been moving forward on a complex three-part agreement, which was initially derailed by the Hamas-led October 7 invasion of Israel.

Senate approval needed amid political shifts

It included a security pact between Riyadh and Washington, Israeli-Saudi normalization, and a pathway to Palestinian statehood.

The Biden administration had hoped that a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal would allow for the revival of the deal.

The timing of when the deal moves forward is critical because the security pact needs the approval of two-thirds of the Senate, which means that Republicans must also support the agreement.

There is support for the deal in this current senate, but it is unclear if that would be the case when the membership changes in January.

It’s believed that Democrats would not support a US-Saudi security pact with Saudi Arabia if US President Donald Trump was in the White House, but enough Republicans would back it should that pact include Saudi-Israeli normalization.

The deal is also seen as the basis of a regional security architecture against Iran, that would include both Israel and Saudi Arabia.

A decision to delay movement on a Saudi deal until after the election, would leave only a narrow window of time under a Biden presidency to make a deal.

It’s a gamble for Netanyahu, who might get better terms for a deal under a Trump Presidency with regard to the issue of Palestinian statehood, but worse terms if Vide President Kamala Harris wins the White House.

Even if the terms were better under a Trump presidency, the Senate might not approve the agreement.

Netanyahu spoke about the Saudi deal with Biden when he met with him in Washington two weeks ago. 

Surprisingly, he did not mention the Saudi deal during his joint address to the US Congress on July 24 even though it was likely his only chance to address the senators who would be voting on the deal.

Instead, Netanyahu used that unique forum to promote a new security architecture for the Middle East to combat Iran, which he called the Abraham Alliance based on the former Trump administration’s Abraham Accords.

It’s an alliance, he said, that is akin to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization formed in the aftermath of World War II.

“All countries that are in peace with Israel and all those countries who will make peace with Israel should be invited to join this alliance,” Netanyahu told Congress.