Secretary of State Tony Blinken in Jerusalem in January. Photo: Amir Levy/Getty Images
Joel 3:2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land
Important Takeaways:
- U.S. tells Israel mega-deal with Saudis must include concessions to Palestinians
- The Biden administration told the Israeli government last week that it would have to make significant concessions to the Palestinians as part of any possible mega-deal with Saudi Arabia that includes normalization between the kingdom and Israel, four U.S. officials and a source briefed on the issue told Axios.
- But the Biden administration faces an uphill battle. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strong reservations about taking any significant steps toward the Palestinians. Doing so would likely anger the extreme-right parties that are part of his coalition and risk bringing down his government.
- Blinken also said that Saudi Arabia will need to show the Arab and Muslim world that it got significant deliverables from Israel regarding the Palestinians in return for a normalization agreement, the officials said.
- What to watch: Three current and former U.S. officials said Netanyahu could be invited to the White House for a meeting with Biden the third week of September.
- A source briefed on the issue said that such a meeting would likely focus on stressing the need for Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians in any future normalization deal with Saudi Arabia.
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