President Donald J. Trump on Monday expressed confidence that Israeli-Saudi normalization is achievable.
“I believe Saudi Arabia will ultimately join the Abraham Accords … and it won’t take very long,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during the signing of dozens of executive orders on his inauguration day.
The Abraham Accords, named so to symbolize the shared religious heritage of Judaism and Islam, rooted in the figure of the patriarch Abraham who sired both the Jewish and Ishmaelite nations, are bilateral agreements that formalize Arab–Israeli normalization.
The agreements were signed on September 15, 2020, between Israel and two Arab nations—the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, mediated by the United States. The official signing ceremony, hosted by President Trump on the Truman Balcony of the White House, marked significant milestones, as the UAE and Bahrain formally recognized Israel’s sovereignty, paving the way for full diplomatic relations.
Israel and Saudi Arabia have never established formal diplomatic relations. In 1947, Saudi Arabia opposed the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine and continues to withhold recognition of Israeli sovereignty. However, as of 2023, negotiations toward Israeli–Saudi normalization are ongoing, with the United States acting as a mediator between the two countries. However, Saudi Arabia has postponed US-backed plans to normalize ties with Israel following the outbreak of the Gaza war on October 7, 2023. The kingdom has stated that it would not recognize Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Many in Israel and the US believe that the main motivation behind Hamas’s atrocities on October 7 was to deter the Saudis from making good on their plan to normalize relations with Israel.
Trump stated that he would not “push” Israel and Saudi Arabia toward normalization, but expressed confidence that diplomatic relations between the two countries would be established “soon.”
