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US Spox: 'Path Towards' Saudi-Israel Normalisation, But Not During War

MIDEAST

On 31 October, White House National Security Council spox John Kirby claimed that the prospect of a normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia was not dead in the water amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Following talks between US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Saudi Arabian Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud on 30 Oct in Washington, D.C., Kirby stated that "We came away from those discussions confident that there will be a path to get back towards to normalization...There is still interest in the Saudi side in pursuing that...What is going on between Israel and Hamas makes it harder to make practical progress on it right now,”

  • Compared to other regional powers such as Iran and Turkey, Saudi Arabia's condemnation of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza has been consistent but less aggressive in tone.
  • While the US will be keen to not let Israel-Saudi normalisation fall by the wayside, it remains overwhelmingly unlikely that there will be any progress at all on a deal while Israel remains engaged in a war against Hamas and has physical boots on the ground in Gaza or maintains its aerial bombardment of the area.

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