Saudi Arabia accused Israel of provoking Palestinian hostility after a lethal Hamas attack from Gaza that claimed scores of Israeli lives.
“The kingdom calls for an immediate halt to the escalation between the two sides, the protection of civilians, and restraint,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said Saturday, as Israeli Defense Forces engage in “gun battles” with Hamas terrorists. “The Kingdom recalls its repeated warnings of the dangers of the explosion of the situations as a result of the continued occupations, the deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, and the repeating of systematic provocation against its sanctities.”
ISRAELI MILITARY CONFIRMS HAMAS HOLDING SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS HOSTAGE FOLLOWING SURPRISE ATTACK
That statement stirred frustration and disappointment in American observers of the Saudi-Israeli relationship. United States officials have nurtured in recent months closed-door negotiations over a potential normalization of diplomatic relations between the Gulf Arab monarchy and the Jewish democracy. That diplomatic effort has been galvanized by a shared sense of threats from Iran, whose leaders celebrated the carnage on Saturday.
“We will stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Al-Quds,” a military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday, according to Fars News. “Our brave and hard-working Palestinian people, those freeing the world, the Palestinian resistance, in these historical moments are engaged in a heroic fight for Al-Aqsa Mosque, our sacred sites, and our prisoners.”
IDF officials claimed “to have killed hundreds of Palestinian terrorists in southern Israel,” according to the Times of Israel, as Israeli officials and society grappled with the ramifications of an attack that began with “more than 5,000 rockets” fired in a 20-minute period, according to Hamas boasts.
“Citizens of Israel, we are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday. “I am initiating an extensive mobilization of the reserves to fight back on a scale and intensity that the enemy has so far not experienced. The enemy will pay an unprecedented price.”
Israeli opposition leaders echoed that assessment and offered to set aside the bitter political disputes that have convulsed Israeli civil society in recent months in favor of a unity government to confront a severe crisis.
“The State of Israel is at war. It won’t be easy and it won’t be short. It has strategic consequences which we haven’t seen for many years. There is a serious risk that it will become a multi-front war,” center-left Israeli leader Yair Lapid, who orchestrated the coalition government that briefly displaced Netanyahu from the prime minister’s office in 2021 and 2022, said Saturday. “Forming an emergency professional government will make clear to our enemies that the vast majority of Israeli citizens stand behind the IDF and security forces. It will make clear to the world, in the international community, that the people of Israel stand united against this threat.”
The scope of the new conflict remains unclear, but “this is the first time I have seen Israel use the word ‘war’ in decades,” as Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior vice president Jonathan Schanzer put it.
“Israel must watch for signs of multi-front conflict — something we haven’t seen for 50 years, since the Yom Kippur War,” Schanzer wrote on social media. “But to sum up: Hamas has launched a surprise attack from Gaza. The Iran-backed group appears to have exploited an intelligence failure within Israel about Hamas’ intents and abilities. But the big question is whether this is part of a broader Iranian strategy.”
The attack raises the specter of a major conflict unfolding over the same weeks and months in which U.S., Israeli, and Saudi officials aspired to broker a normalization deal underpinned by U.S. security guarantees against Iran.
“This war is a transparent attempt by Iran to derail the peace talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who sits on the armed services and intelligence committees, said Saturday. “The United States should provide Israel the military and diplomatic support it needs to destroy Hamas.”
Whether designed as such or not, the attack already has delivered a blow against the normalization talks due to Saudi Arabia’s response, according to another Senate Republican.
“It is time to stop covering for Hamas and other terrorist organizations if you really want peace. Blaming Israel for today’s attack is anything but normal,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on social media. “Saudi Arabia’s embrace of ‘Israel responsibility’ and covering for Hamas is also a major setback . . . Comments such as these make it exceedingly difficult to move toward normalizing relationships.”
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Saudi officials, for their part, called for a jump-starting of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
“The Kingdom calls for an immediate halt to the escalation between the two sides, the protection of civilians, and restraint,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said. “The kingdom renews the call of the international community to assume its responsibilities and activate a credible peace process that leads to the two-state solution to achieve security and peace in the region and protect civilians.”
