Saudi Arabia Follows the UAE in Dampening Netanyahu Bravado

Just days after the United Arab Emirates went public in denying Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu his plans for a trip to the UAE and an Abraham Accord summit because of what they said was the PM’s use of their nation for “electioneering,” Saudi Arabia sent a message via newspaper op-ed that Netanyahu’s hints at the Saudis being ready to join the list of normalizers is premature and will require a settlement with the Palestinians first. Specifically, Netanyahu had said in his campaign speeches that Saudi Arabia would be among the next Arab nations to make peace. Nawaf Obaid, a respected former adviser to the Saudi king, wrote in the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds that there is still “much work” to be done before the kingdom could sustain such a policy shift. Netanyahu’s campaign theme tells Israelis that he brought the peace deals with the four Arab nations and the vaccinations against COVID-19.