Peloni: Christine provides an important analysis of the disturbing trend coming from Saudi Arabia and Turkey since October 7, citing specific reports demonstrating this trend. Normalization with the Saudis provides an import oportunity for the Saudis to shift their economy towards diversifying away from its dependence on energy production alone. This was believed to be the path on which the future would be travel. In the recent months, and in particular in recent weeks, this belief has been seriously called into question. Some, such as Khaled Hassan, have come to completely distrust the motivations of the Saudis given their return to projecting antisemitic commentary as the official language of the regime. Is there any real basis for ignoring the Kingdom’s retrograding policy aligning with our enemies? Or is the romance with MBS at an end?
By | Jan 30, 2026
By Hudson Institute – Flickr, CC BY 2.0, Wikipedia
The world seems largely to think that Israel is so eager for normalization with Muslim countries that ordinary conditions don’t apply. Saudi Arabia has already made it clear repeatedly that it considers no normalization possible without Israel’s return to its pre-1967 borders (aka “the Auschwitz borders”), and the Saudis also expect that East Jerusalem would be established as the capital of a Palestinian state. For the Israelis to accept such conditions would be utter madness.
Israel also has its own expectations; those expectations, however, are reasonable and mandatory for Israel’s very survival. Netanyahu has now stated that he is not interested in Saudi Arabia if it aligns with anti-Israel forces such as Turkey (whose attitude toward Israel is akin to that of the Islamic Republic of Iran) and Qatar. Both countries are Hamas supporters. And Saudi Arabia has manifested some disturbing trends itself, particularly since October 7, but even before that. To wit:
- Turkey in advanced talks to join Saudi-Pakistan defense pact, putting Turkey under Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella
- Saudi Arabia to release more Hamas-linked prisoners after meeting with Hamas senior delegation
- Saudi Arabia erases Israel from the map, replaces it with ‘Palestine’ despite peace talks
- China brokered Saudi-Iran rapprochement is leading more countries to engage with Iran
- Israel at war: Saudis, Qatar, Iran blame ‘occupation’; France, Netherlands support Israel’s right to defend itself (on October 7, 2023)
- Saudi Arabia, Muslim World League welcome ICJ ruling that Israel’s ‘settlement’ policy breaks international law
- At OIC summit in Gambia, Iran calls on Muslim nations to sever ties with Israel
- Saudi daily editor-in-chief calls Netanyahu murderer, terrorist, war criminal, says Hamas must achieve victory
- Saudi FM: ‘Agreements with US very, very close,’ Palestinian state ‘in exchange for normalizing with Israel’ and Saudi Arabia says it’s willing to make ‘concessions on Palestinians’ for a peace deal with Israel (with pre-1967 borders)
- US, Moscow, Arab nations, and UN warn Israel against ‘further escalation’
- Saudi Arabia Is Not Your Friend
- Riyadh: Arab and Islamic summits claim Israel not acting in self-defense, Iran calls for its total destruction
- Saudi Arabia: Israel’s defense against Hamas ‘inhumane,’ a ‘bloodbath’ by ‘Israeli occupation forces’
As for Turkey:
- Turkey Hosts a Secret Meeting of the Muslim Brotherhood
- Thousands of Turkish citizens join the Islamic State, Turkey is now a primary ISIS recruiting ground
- Iran and Turkey hold talks ‘for closer coordination among Islamic countries in addressing regional challenges’
- Turkey says disarming Hamas should not be first task of Gaza stabilization force
- Top Israeli analyst warns about dire implications of Trump’s support of Turkish forces in Gaza
- Trump’s Jihadist ‘Board of Peace’
And Qatar has long been an open supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoot Hamas.
“Netanyahu: If Saudis want deal, we expect them not to align with anti-Israel forces,” by Lazar Berman, Times of Israel, January 28, 2026:
In the latest sign that a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia is not going to be signed any time in the foreseeable future, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he is closely following Riyadh’s recent shift toward Turkey and Qatar.
“We expect from anybody who wants normalization or peace with us that they not participate in efforts steered by forces or ideologies that want the opposite of peace,” Netanyahu said at a press conference in response to a question by The Times of Israel.
Normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia seemed to be a question of when, not if, before the October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel by Hamas and the subsequent war. Two Israeli ministers made unprecedented visits to the desert kingdom in the weeks before the attack, and the Biden White House was pushing hard for a deal….
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.