Report: Israel, Saudi Arabia stepping up talks amid concerns over Iran

Israel’s new government has stepped up US-backed talks with Saudi Arabia on developing closer military and intelligence ties in light of growing concerns about Iran, several people familiar with the discussions told Bloomberg.

Officials from the two countries held exploratory meetings ahead of the recent US-Gulf Cooperation Council Working Group gathering on defense and security in Riyadh, six people said. Three of them added that further engagement was expected to take place in Prague to coincide with the Munich Security Conference.

A healing of the historical rift between Israel and Saudi Arabia would represent a significant realignment of regional politics, but a fully-fledged reset of relations may rest on an agreement related to Saudi Arabia’s publicly stated and long-held demand for the creation of a Palestinian state, some of the people told Bloomberg.

Israel has been for years rumored to have behind-the-scenes ties with Saudi Arabia, but the Saudis have vehemently denied those rumors.

Neighbors of the kingdom, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, formalized relationships with Israel in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that his goal is to achieve a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia that would “effectively end the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

However, Saudi officials have repeatedly said that a Palestinian state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital is a prerequisite for Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel, and Prince Faisal’s comments on Thursday are in line with that.

The Prime Minister’s Office and Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the Bloomberg report, as did Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry.

Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who travels to Riyadh often to meet with Saudi officials, told Bloomberg that while there is a “profound alignment in threat perceptions between the Israelis and the Saudis and other Gulf Arab governments,” when it comes to Iran, it is not enough on its own to be the basis of Saudi-Israeli normalization.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman may also be dangling normalization with Israel as a way to improve relations with the US, Alterman said, while Netanyahu can talk it up to deflect from troubles at home.

“Will it move beyond friends with benefits? It need not any time soon,” he said.