The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas launched the deadliest attack on Israel in years on Saturday, threatening a deal between the United States and Saudi Arabia, which centers on Saudi recognition of Israel.
The Biden administration has long been working to garner support for an Israel–Saudi normalization agreement.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION OUTLINES RULES FOR INSTANT EV REBATES TO BOOST SALES
“This is going to have a chilling impact, it seems to me, on any prospects for what the Biden administration would like to see in terms of Israeli–Saudi normalization because any leverage now that the administration thought it had over Benjamin Netanyahu to make concessions on the Palestinians has been reduced, basically, to an optical zero,” Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former U.S. State Department Middle East negotiator, said on CNN.
Miller was on the ground in Jerusalem 50 years ago, during the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Following the attacks, Saudi Arabia called for an “immediate halt to the escalation of conflict between Palestinians and Israel.”
Saudi Arabia’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement that they are “closely following the developments of the unprecedented situation between a number of Palestinian factions and the Israeli occupation forces, which has resulted in a high level of violence on several fronts there.”
“The Kingdom recalls its repeated warnings of the dangers of the explosion of the situation as a result of the continued occupation, and deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, and the repetition of systematic provocations against its sanctities,” the statement reads.
President Joe Biden’s diplomatic efforts to upend the Middle East seem to hinge on a future Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, requiring concessions from all four leaders in the negotiations.
On Wednesday, 20 Democratic senators sent a letter expressing concern over a binding defense treaty with Saudi Arabia. The senators said any deal would need to “preserv[e] the option of a two-state solution,” a point members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel’s government would likely resist.
“Today, I spoke with @IsraeliPM about the appalling Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel,” Biden responded on X. “I offered our support and reiterated my unwavering commitment to Israel’s security. @FLOTUS and I express our heartfelt condolences to the families who have lost loved ones.”
Saudi Arabia currently does not recognize Israeli sovereignty and has said it will normalize ties with Israel if the creation of a Palestinian state is on the table.
Speaking several hours after the attacks launched overnight and into the morning, Miller said it would take “days and weeks” before the “proverbial dust is gonna settle.”
On Saturday, Hamas fired off thousands of rockets and sent fighters into Israeli villages by the Gaza Strip. Israel’s emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, has confirmed that at least 70 people have died as a result of militant attacks, and hundreds are wounded.
“We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded in his first remarks since the unprecedented attacks.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Video footage released by the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, shared on Telegram, claims Hamas has captured an unconfirmed number of Israeli soldiers. The Israeli military confirmed IDF soldiers and civilians were being held hostage in the Gaza Strip.
“It’s a trauma because Israeli communities proximate to Gaza obviously were not adequately protected; there was an insufficient Israeli presence there,” Miller said, noting a major intelligence failure by the Israelis.
