Axios: Trump’s meeting with the Saudi crown prince witnessed tension during the discussion of normalization with Israel
The meeting between US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last week was tense during a discussion of normalization with Israel.
According to Axios, Trump pushed hard to join the Abraham Accords while the Saudi crown prince stuck to his position.
According to US officials and a source familiar with the matter, during the November 18 meeting, the two leaders discussed the possibility of Saudi Arabia joining normalization agreements.
Trump had hoped for a diplomatic breakthrough when the Gaza war ended.
Trump has raised the issue personally and pressed the Saudi side hard to join the agreements, which were a landmark foreign policy achievement during his first term.
For his part, the Saudi crown prince made it clear that despite his desire to move forward towards normalization with Israel, Saudi public opinion remains strongly hostile to Israel in the wake of the Gaza war, and that Saudi society is not currently ready for such a step.
In return, Mohammed bin Salman demanded that Israel agree to an irreversible, reliable and time-bound path for the establishment of a Palestinian state as a condition for any peace agreement with Saudi Arabia, which the Israeli government considers unacceptable.
A source familiar with the conversation described the conversation as harsh despite the politeness of the dialogue, noting that Trump felt disappointed and disturbed by the Saudi position.
During the joint press conference, Trump announced his intention to provide Saudi Arabia with an advanced version of the F-35 fighter jets, but officials later confirmed that Riyadh would get a watered-down version while maintaining Israel’s military advantage.
Axios noted that during his meeting with Mohammed bin Salman, Trump didn’t raise the terrorism lawsuit filed by the families of the victims of the 9/11 events against Saudi Arabia.
A judge recently allowed the lawsuit to be filed, citing overwhelming evidence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the attack that killed 2,977 people.
