{"id":1840,"date":"2026-05-06T15:29:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/?p=1840"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:29:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:29:25","slug":"israel-saudi-arabia-a-possible-addition-to-the-abraham-accords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/he\/israel-saudi-arabia-a-possible-addition-to-the-abraham-accords\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel-Saudi Arabia: A Possible Addition to the Abraham Accords?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ted Rosner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historical Background:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Israel\u2019s establishment in 1948, Israel and Saudi Arabia have never had diplomatic relations. This dates back to 1947 when Saudi Arabia voted against the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, rejecting the establishment of a Jewish state. Saudi Arabia supported the Arab League\u2019s stance of opposition toward Israel throughout the Arab-Israeli conflict. For decades, this policy reflected both solidarity with the Palestinian cause and Saudi Arabia\u2019s role as guardian of Islam\u2019s holiest sites. (University of Michigan).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast-forwarding to 2020, the Abraham Accords normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states, specifically, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. Later, bilateral negotiations between Israel and Saudi Arabia made progress in 2023, with the United States as the mediator. These talks represented a historic opportunity to create peace in the Middle East. The Saudi government, however, had stated that they will accept the terms of the deal if the issue of an independent Palestinian state is resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interests and Considerations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Israel and Saudi Arabia have national interests that would make a diplomatic agreement mutually beneficial for Israelis and Saudis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Saudi Arabia, a diplomatic agreement would create an opportunity for U.S. support and to enhance its global standing. As such, the Saudis have presented three major conditions for the establishment of formal ties:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Security Guarantees: A U.S. commitment to defend Saudi Arabia from external threats, such as Iran.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Advanced Weaponry: Access to sophisticated weapons, including F-35 fighter jets and missile defense systems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Civil Nuclear Development: U.S. approval for a nuclear energy program with uranium enrichment capabilities, which is supposed to diversify Saudi energy sources and match Iran\u2019s nuclear progress. (Institute for Policy and Strategy {IPS} 2023).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    On the other hand, Israel would consider normalization with Saudi Arabia a major milestone in its quest to make peace with the Arab world. Israel\u2019s integration with the Arab world would potentially cause not only other Arab states to follow the Saudi\u2019s lead, but the opportunity to create a stronger force against the Iranian threat. \u201cIs Saudi-Israel Normalization Still on Track\u201d (Jewish News Syndicate {JNS} 2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                In the future, chances for normalization remain uncertain, especially with the unresolved Palestinian issue, opposition from Iran and its proxies, and U.S. hesitation over Saudi nuclear enrichment. But if achieved, Saudi Arabia\u2019s inclusion in the Abraham Accords would create one of the most important diplomatic achievements in the history of the Middle East. It would build bridges between Judaism and Islam by bringing enemies together in shared harmony and cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    University of Michigan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \nhttps:\/\/lsa.umich.edu\/content\/dam\/cmenas-assets\/cmenas-documents\/unit-of-israel-palestine\/Section1_UnitedNationsPartitionPlan.pdf\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Har-Zvi, Shay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \nhttps:\/\/www.runi.ac.il\/en\/research-institutes\/government\/ips\/activities\/newsletter\/har-zvi-11-9-23e\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cIs Saudi-Israel Normalization Still on Track\u201d Jewish News Syndicate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \nhttps:\/\/www.jns.org\/is-saudi-israel-normalization-still-on-track\n<\/div><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Ted Rosner Historical Background: Since Israel\u2019s establishment in 1948, Israel and Saudi Arabia have never had diplomatic relations. This dates back to 1947 when Saudi Arabia voted against the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, rejecting the establishment of a Jewish state. Saudi Arabia supported the Arab League\u2019s stance of opposition toward Israel throughout …<\/p>\n

    Israel-Saudi Arabia: A Possible Addition to the Abraham Accords?<\/span> \u05dc\u05e7\u05e8\u05d9\u05d0\u05d4 \u00bb<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[82,196,27,41,81,28,42,194,195,63],"class_list":["post-1840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tabi","tag-abraham-accords","tag-arab-league","tag-israel","tag-middle-east","tag-normalization","tag-palestine","tag-peace","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-united-nations","tag-war"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/theisrael.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/shutterstock_1490116943.jpg",2068,1380,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theisrael.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/shutterstock_1490116943-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/theisrael.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/shutterstock_1490116943-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/theisrael.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/shutterstock_1490116943-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/theisrael.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/shutterstock_1490116943-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/theisrael.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/shutterstock_1490116943-1536x1025.jpg",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/theisrael.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/shutterstock_1490116943-2048x1367.jpg",2048,1367,true],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/theisrael.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/shutterstock_1490116943-18x12.jpg",18,12,true],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/theisrael.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/shutterstock_1490116943-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/theisrael.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/shutterstock_1490116943-600x400.jpg",600,400,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/theisrael.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/shutterstock_1490116943-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Noam","author_link":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/he\/author\/cfccl\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Ted Rosner Historical Background: Since Israel\u2019s establishment in 1948, Israel and Saudi Arabia have never had diplomatic relations. This dates back to 1947 when Saudi Arabia voted against the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, rejecting the establishment of a Jewish state. Saudi Arabia supported the Arab League\u2019s stance of opposition toward Israel throughout…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1840"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1842,"href":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1840\/revisions\/1842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theisrael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}