Benjamin Netanyahu: "We need to eliminate Hamas and Iran’s nuclear threat before Saudi deal"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in an interview with Fox news that normalization with Saudi Arabia would be possible "when we complete the change in the Middle East."

The prime minister elaborated that this will happen "when we cut the Iranian axis even more than we have done so far, when we make sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, when we destroy Hamas."

He went on to explain that "then it will set the stage for another agreement with the Saudis and with others. I believe in the Muslim world as well." These remarks come after in his meeting with the US president at the White House.

When asked when the Palestinians became so important to Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu replied, "We achieved the Abraham Accords because we went around the Palestinians. Because the Palestinians, whether they are Hamas or their competitors – the Palestinian Authority – want to see the end of Israel." He quoted Trump as saying that "Israel is too small" and added: "The president is coming straight to the point. And he's right. We can't be smaller, and there is not going to be an organization here that is obligated to destroy us."

"After October 7, after the massacre, it disappeared. No one is going to do that. No one is going to say, 'Just give them a Palestinian state.' They had one. It's called Gaza, which is under Hamas. It was a Palestinian state. What happened with that? They made a springboard out of it in an attempt to destroy us," he noted.

Netanyahu has made no secret of his enthusiasm for Trump's plan for the Gaza Strip over the past week, and in this interview he also praised it. "I think his proposal is the first refreshing idea in years, and it has the potential to change everything in Gaza. Otherwise, we will repeat the same thing over and over again. It's the same old thing – we're leaving, but Gaza is being occupied by terrorists again. And Trump comes and says, 'Let's come up with a new idea.'