WH: “Israel”-Saudi Normalization A Long Process

By Staff, Agencies

The White House said on Monday that advancing ties between the Zionist entity and Saudi Arabia would be a focus of US President Joe Biden’s upcoming trip to the Middle East, but that the Saudi normalization with “Israel” the would be a “long process.”

Biden is set to land at Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday for a visit that will include the apartheid entity and the West Bank, before leaving for Saudi Arabia on Friday. This comes as “Israeli” officials have expressed hope for progress with Saudi Arabia during the trip.

For his part, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan played down hopes for a breakthrough in a briefing to reporters at the White House on Monday.

“With respect to ‘Israel’ and Saudi Arabia, I’m not going to get ahead of very intensive work that will be done in the course of this trip,” Sullivan said. “Normalization of any kind would be a long process.”

“Looking for progress and momentum in that direction is certainly something we’re focused on as we head off to the Middle East,” he said.

Biden will become the first US president to fly from the “Israeli” entity directly to Saudi Arabia. In a Washington Post op-ed Saturday, Biden described the flight as a “small symbol” of the warming ties between “Israel” and the Arab world and “steps toward normalization.”

Sullivan said the flight was “itself a meaningful step and an unusual step.”

“It shows the kind of promise that greater integration could hold,” he said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll said Monday that normalization with Riyadh would happen in stages, unlike the surprise announcement for the Abraham Accords that saw “Israel” forge ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020. Roll expressed hope that Biden’s trip will come with some progress, though.