Saudi FM claims US treaties 'not that tied' to Israel normalization, calls Gaza war 'a form of genocide'
Washington and Riyadh saw their plans for Saudi–Israel normalization go up in smoke last October following the launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood by the Palestinian resistance
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on 31 October that some of the bilateral agreements the kingdom has been negotiating with Washington in the trade and artificial intelligence fields are “not that tied” to normalization with Israel.
“Some of the more significant defense cooperation agreements are much more complicated. We would certainly welcome an opportunity to finish them before the [end of the Biden] administration’s term, but that’s reliant on other factors outside of our control,” the kingdom’s top diplomat said during an interview at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in the Saudi capital.
“The other work streams are not that connected, and some of them are progressing quite quickly, and we hope to see moving forward,” he added.
Elsewhere in the interview, Bin Farhan reiterated Riyadh’s position that it would not formally normalize ties with Israel without a Palestinian state, adding that the crisis unfolding in Gaza is “a form of genocide.”
“We look at just what’s happening now in north [Gaza] where we have a complete blockade of any access for humanitarian goods coupled with a continued military assault without any real pathway for civilians to find shelter, to find safe zones, that can only be described as a form of genocide,” he said.
“It is certainly against humanitarian law, international humanitarian law, and is feeding a continuing cycle of violence,” the Saudi official added.
In the lead-up to the 7 October 2023 Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, Saudi Arabia and the US were putting the finishing touches on a normalization deal with Israel that included a set of agreements on nuclear energy, security, and defense cooperation.
Bin Farhan’s comments on Thursday came one day after he hosted a meeting of the so-called “Global Alliance for the Two-State Solution.”
According to a new book by US investigative journalist Bob Woodward, in the aftermath of the 7 October 2023 Palestinian resistance operation, several Arab leaders – including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) – told US officials that “Israel must defeat Hamas.”
“The terrorist groups are not only trying to eliminate Israel, but they also want to overthrow other Arab leaders. We are concerned about what the Israeli operation will do to all of our security, and what comes after Hamas may be worse,” Bin Farhan reportedly told US State Secretary Anthony Blinken.