Biden: "There may be progress on the way to an agreement with Saudi Arabia"

US President Joe Biden addressed the possibility of a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia today (Saturday) and stated that "there may be progress towards an agreement between the two countries." He also mentioned that the potential rapprochement comes after the US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, arrived in Jeddah last night and held talks with Saudi officials to advance the normalization agreement.

Biden's remarks come after "The New York Times" columnist Thomas Friedman wrote this week that he had spoken with the President about the possibility of an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which would include concessions to the Palestinians in exchange for establishing diplomatic relations. According to Friedman, the American President is deliberating whether to advance the agreement, but this week, he gave the green light to the process.

"When I interviewed President Biden in the Oval Office last week, my column focused on his call for Netanyahu to halt the judicial revolution without broad consensus – but that was not the only thing we discussed," Friedman said. "The President has not yet decided whether to continue efforts for an agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, but he has approved his team to talk to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the central question: will he agree to the deal, and at what price."

He further argued that "if the US reaches some kind of security pact with Saudi Arabia - on the condition that it normalizes relations with Israel which will make significant concessions to the Palestinians - Netanyahu's coalition, which includes religious extremists, will have to answer this question: 'Annexation or normalization?' Even if such a proposal reaches the right-wing government in Israel, many people will have to agree on many things."