JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat on Saturday downplayed talk of normalization with Israel after the kingdom opened its airspace to Israeli commercial flights and hammered out a complex deal over islands in the Red Sea that required Israeli assent.
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Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Farhan bin Faisal spoke to reporters after a four-day visit by President Joe Biden to the region, including two days that the U.S. leader spent in Saudi Arabia, where he held talks with the Saudi king and the crown prince, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, and took part in a summit of regional leaders.
Prince Farhan stressed there was no discussion at the summit of any military cooperation with Israel or talk of a so-called “Arab NATO.”
“There is no discussion about a defensive alliance with Israel,” he repeated.
Ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia have been inching closer amid shared concerns over Iran. The kingdom’s public stance is that it has long welcomed normalization with Israel so long as Palestinian rights and demands for statehood are guaranteed.
The Saudis want to pursue normalization with Israel but on their terms, not America’s. Right now, however, having UAE, Bahrain and Egypt as the front door works perfectly fine.