Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that he believed the window for a potential normalization deal with Saudi Arabia was “open for the next few months,” but noted that there were “major issues” with a proposal that Riyadh be permitted to enrich uranium.
Fox News and CNN broadcast interviews with Netanyahu after the prime minister told the United Nations that Israel was “on the cusp” of a historic deal with Saudi Arabia.
“I think that we have a window of opportunity, it’s the next few months. If we don’t achieve it in the next few months, we might delay it by quite a few years,” Netanyahu told Fox News.
When asked about Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, Netanyahu said he was “delighted to hear what he had to say,” and described the Saudi leader as “quite a visionary.”
The Israeli premier then repeated the Saudi crown prince’s comment: “I think we’re getting closer to peace every day that passes.”
Bin Salman told Fox News on Wednesday that “every day we get closer” to his country normalizing ties with the Zionist entity, while clarifying that the Palestinian issue is still a “very important” component of the process and declaring that Saudi Arabia will have to obtain a nuclear weapon if Iran does.
In his Friday interview with Fox News, Netanyahu said that the prospects of a potential normalization agreement were high.
“I think that when you have three leaders and three countries that avidly want a result — the United States under President Biden, Saudi Arabia under the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Israel under my premiership, I think that really raises the possibility we’ll succeed,” he said.
In exchange for normalizing ties with the occupation regime, media reports said that Saudi Arabia is asking the US for a major mutual defense pact, significant arms deals, and cooperation in establishing a civilian nuclear program on Saudi soil, as well as Israeli concessions to the Palestinians.
In an interview with CNN, Netanyahu was asked about Saudi Arabia potentially being permitted to enrich uranium.
“I think there are major issues there,” he said.
“We would not do anything that would in any way jeopardize Israel’s security,” Netanyahu said, adding that Tel Aviv and Washington “stand shoulder-to-shoulder” on that matter.
Source: Israeli media
