by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The United States’ Biden administration is understood to be in the final stages of negotiating a security pact with Saudi Arabia that stipulates the US would defend the Saudi Kingdom in the event of an attack, while Riyadh would be obligated to block Russia and China from setting up military bases on its territory, the Jerusalem Post reports.
However, the deal is not expected to be approved by the two-thirds US Senate majority required for it to be ratified unless it includes a provision that Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Israel, JPost notes. The Kingdom has been an official enemy of Israel since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948, but has been increasingly cooperative with Jerusalem over a shared threat from Iran.
For its part, Saudi Arabia has said it is interested in normalizing relations with Israel, provided a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict is achieved, JPost reports.
In January, the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom, Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud, told BBC News that, despite its criticisms of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Saudi Arabia is interested in establishing diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.
“Absolutely, there’s interest, there’s been interest since 1982 and before,” Al Saud stated. “We’ve been at this for a long time, and willing to accept Israel for a long time; it’s a reality that we have to live with. But we can’t live with Israel without a Palestinian state,” the ambassador said.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
A massive barrage of Israeli airstrikes hit Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon just after the terrorist group’s leader declared that two days of intense hybrid bombings, including the detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies targeting Hezbollah forces, amounted to a declaration of war.
Facing relentless violence against their communities by Islamic jihadist terror groups, 16.2 million Christians in sub-Saharan Africa have now been forced to flee their homes and live in poverty-stricken Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps, the Christian Post (CP) reports.
A Pakistani court has sentenced Shagufta Kiran, a Christian mother of four, to death for “committing blasphemy against Islam,” a senior Christian advocacy activist told Worthy News Thursday.
Amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reiterated that the kingdom would not recognize Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state, the Times of Israel reports. The Crown Prince made his remarks during an annual speech to the advisory Shura Council on Wednesday (September 18).
Taiwanese company Gold Apollo says that the pager model allegedly used by Hezbollah members that simultaneously exploded and killed numerous people, mainly in Lebanon, was made by its Hungarian partner.
Israel has condemned an adopted United Nations resolution demanding that all Israeli forces and civilians pull out of Palestinian areas within a year. The resolution also called for an embargo on arms that Israel might use in those areas.
Israel’s atomic chief has warned that Syria built an undeclared nuclear facility after Iran, which he said has “in alarming amounts conducting covert nuclear activities.”