Illustration showing US President Joe Biden (left) and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (right) shaking hands, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) looks on. Photo: New Arab.
Amid US attempts to impose a Saudi Arabia-Israel normalization, only 2% of Saudi youth support normalization with Israel.
This is the result of the Arab Youth Survey 2023, published in September by the British magazine The Economist in an article, highlighting that “domestic obstacles remain significant” to the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and the Israeli regime.
“Even a near-absolute monarchy has to take public opinion into account,” the article stated. “According to the Arab Youth Survey 2023, only 2% of young Saudis support normalization of relations with Israel.”
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According to the article, Riyadh’s motivation for normalization is “a new strategic alliance with the United States,” as the Arab kingdom is also trying to develop a nuclear energy program as part of the agreement with Israel.
Meanwhile, the article noted that the deal is “a golden opportunity” for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces corruption allegations and widespread protests, as normalization with the Saudi kingdom will “burnish his tarnished legacy.”
The deal, according to the article, will also give a political boost to US President Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“For President Joe Biden, a new diplomatic and defense framework in the Middle East backed by the United States and built around the two regional powers would be a major foreign policy achievement with which to enter an election year,” the report said.
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However, it must be remembered that during his previous election campaign, Biden had vowed to treat Saudi Arabia as “the pariah that it is” following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Washington’s efforts to add Saudi Arabia to the list of Arab countries that have signed the normalization agreements come at a critical time when Biden is seeking re-election, and the US government has been embarrassed by the kingdom’s strengthening ties with Iran and Syria, and its increased gravitation toward China.
“The potential for a deal between the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel may be huge, but the political window to achieve it is small,” the Economist article added.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco signed US-brokered normalization agreements with Israel in 2020, drawing condemnation from Palestinians, who criticized the agreements as “a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people.” The majority of the people of the aforementioned countries do not support the normalization either.
(HispanTV)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/AF
