Pompeo: I know 'many' inside Saudi Arabia want normalization with Israel
"I hope that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can find its way to join the Abraham Accords," Pompeo continued. "I know that many inside that country want that to take place."
By ZACHARY KEYSERU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo takes part in a meeting with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, September 18, 2019(photo credit: MANDEL NGAN/POOL/REUTERS)
Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has claimed that "many" people living in Saudi Arabia want to normalize relations with Israel.Pompeo made the comments in a recorded message to the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), which is scheduled to present America's former top diplomat with its first ever Global Leadership Award for his work in facilitating the Abraham Accords on Monday."Predicting the future has proven a struggle for me," Pompeo said, according to AFP. Pompeo added that he believes "many more" countries will seek out normalization with Israel in the future."I hope that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can find its way to join the Abraham Accords," Pompeo continued. "I know that many inside that country want that to take place."There has been wide speculation and expectations among some of Israel’s highest echelons that there will be normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia within the near future. There has also been speculation that Saudi Arabia has been pressuring countries to recognize Israel in unison with Washington, before doing so themselves.In November, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and Pompeo in Neom, Saudi Arabia, according to Israeli sources.The meeting took place in Neom, a new city in northern Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea meant to show off the kingdom’s technological advancement.The Israeli and Saudi sides discussed Iran and normalization, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a senior Saudi adviser.The trip coincided within a week before the assassination of one of Iran's top nuclear scientists Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was gunned down in a car near Tehran in what appeared to be a professional hit. Pictures from the scene showed two vehicles, one damaged in an explosion and another riddled with bullets. Fakhrizadeh was a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) officer and headed Iran’s nuclear weapons project.Before leaving office, Donald Trump mentioned the possibility that Saudi Arabia would join the Abraham Accords Israel signed with other Gulf states, but reports came out immediately afterward of a generational divide, with the 84-year-old king remaining loyal to the traditional Saudi position – that peace with a Palestinian state must come before normalization with Israel – while the 35-year-old crown prince reportedly supported establishing ties with the Jewish state.
Pompeo has encouraged Saudi Arabia and other Arab states to follow the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. Thus far, Saudi Arabia has only allowed Israel to fly over its airspace."When leaders in the Arab world saw that the United States was prepared to do this, to push back against Iran, to push back against the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) leadership in the person of Qasem Soleimani, they knew they had a friend," Pompeo said in his address to CAM. "They knew that they could proceed down a path that their people wanted and work against anti-Semitism and build out a set of accords with the State of Israel.”Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told Reuters in November that normalization with Israel would only come after “a permanent and comprehensive peace agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis including the establishment of a Palestinian state on 1967 borders.”The minister said his country has “supported normalization with Israel for a long time,” pointing out that they authored the Saudi Peace Initiative that would have the Arab world establish ties with Israel in exchange for their vision of a two-state solution.Lahav Harkov and Reuters contributed to this report.
