Israeli official downplays possibility of imminent normalization deal with Saudi Arabia

Ahram Online , Sunday 30 Jul 2023

Yuli Edelstein, head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee and a senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, told Israel's Army Radio that it is too early to talk about a normalization deal in the works.

Yuli Edelstein, head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee and a senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s Likud party

"How shall I put this delicately? There are clauses that are far more important or problematic than such-and-such declarations in the Palestinian realm," Yuli said, according to a Reuters report on Sunday.

"Most of the Saudi discourse is with the Americans, not with us," he added, saying that when it came to Riyadh's demands of Washington, "there are some things we can live with better, and some things we can live with less well".

Reuters also reported that ahead of a cabinet meeting, when reporters asked whether there would be progress in the Saudi talks, Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said: "I hope so."

The statement comes days after US President Joe Biden said on Friday that a deal may be on the way with Saudi Arabia, after talks between his National Security Advisor and Saudi officials in Jeddah on normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.