When the Saudi Crown Prince visited Donald Trump in the Oval Office last week, the White House rolled out the red carpet and showered him with charm, but once the doors closed the two leaders had an intense showdown over Israel . The president hoped his November 18 meeting with Mohammed bin Salman would normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. MBS stepped onto the red carpet on the west lawn of the White House as Trump greeted the Saudi leader with a flyover spectacle of American F-35 and F-15 fighter jets – a rare display reserved for America’s closes allies.
When cameras joined the two in the Oval Office both praised each other and touted US-Saudi relations following the end of the Gaza war. But the warmth soon evaporated when the media was locked out for their private meeting. Trump demanded that MBS normalize relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and formally join the Abraham Accords, which were negotiated by the president’s son-in-law and political confidant Jared Kushner .
The meeting became tense as MBS pushed back at Trump, sources told Axios. The Saudi prince told the president that he can’t improve relations with Israel because public opinion in his kingdom is highly anti-Israel following the deadly Gaza war. A source told Axios that the conversation was filled with ‘disappointment and irritation.’ ‘The president really wants them to join the Abraham Accord. He tried very hard to talk him. It was an honest discussion. But MBS is a strong man. He stood his ground,’ the source added.
MBS, moreover, told Trump that in order to secure a peace deal with his country, Israel would need to agree to ‘an irreversible, credible and time-bound path’ for the creation of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu’s government has ruled out any path for an official Palestinian state in Gaza.
Although the conversation between Trump and MBS was civil, one source familiar with the matter said it became tough at this point. ‘MBS never said no to normalization. The door is open for doing it later. But the two-state solution is an issue,’ a US official said. A White House official told Axios that the president’s Middle Eastern agenda is focused on convincing all countries in the region to join the Abraham Accords.
The Abraham Accords was the crown jewel of Trump’s foreign policy achievements during his first-term in office. The deal, which was put together by Kushner in 2020, normalizes relations between Israel and several Middle Eastern countries after decades of hostilities.
Later on during their joint remarks to the press, Trump told MBS he would sell America’s advanced 5-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, despite pushback from Israel. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however later that day, assured Netanyahu that the deal would not move forward. Rubio told the Israeli leader that the Saudis would receive less advanced fighter jets.
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