Saudis urge US to suspend weapons to Israel until Gaza aid resumes

LONDON — Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain has urged the United States government to deliver on its threat to suspend weapons supplies to Israel unless more humanitarian aid is allowed into Gaza within the next 30 days.

In a strongly worded letter to Israel made public this week, Washington issued an ultimatum, warning that restrictions could be imposed on future support for the country unless the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza is addressed.

Speaking to POLITICO’s “Power Play” podcast, Prince Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud said Joe Biden’s administration now had to keep its word, adding: “We have to assume that the Americans mean what they say; it would be a terrible world if they didn’t.

“In the past we have seen the United States make promises it didn’t fulfill and it ended up in disaster. Vis-à-vis this conflict, the ramifications of not following through with what you say are much greater … no other country can influence Israel like the United States.”

Speaking to host Anne McElvoy, Khalid criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct in Gaza as well as the burgeoning fighting in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah militants, suggesting America should “put your foot down” in demanding a comprehensive cease-fire.

“From the outside, it looks like the Israelis are not listening and that’s not what friends do. But eventually if you put your foot down, this elicits a response,” he said.

The forthright remarks from a close family ally of de-facto Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman suggest a growing distance between the kingdom and Israel, despite hopes by the Biden administration and Netanyahu government that the Abraham Accords — a series of U.S.-brokered treaties signed between states in the region four years ago — would normalize diplomatic relations between Arab states and Israel in exchange for greater security guarantees against Iran.

A senior member of the ruling House of Saud (and brother of the Saudi ambassador to the U.S.), Khalid suggested the mood in Riyadh had hardened toward Israel since the war in Gaza, triggered by the Oct. 7 attack in which Hamas militants killed around 1,200 Israelis and took some 250 hostages into Gaza, leading to spiraling reprisals.

Peace and security

“If the strategy is peace and security in the region, I don’t see them achieving that aim,” Khalid said. “Israel is more threatened today than it has been since the 1970s. In every measurable long-term aim, I don’t see they are succeeding.”

Khalid also downplayed the regional threat from Iran, including to the strategically vital oil shipping route of the Strait of Hormuz, adding, “We have had our differences with Iran. But I think we are pretty aligned at the moment to deescalate this situation.”

Discussing the possibility of a blockade of the strait in response to retaliatory action by Israel over recent Tehran-backed rocket strikes, Khalid replied: “Can they do it? Yes. Will they do it at the moment? I don’t think so.”

Saudi Arabia is embarking on a roster of charm engagements as it pushes its “Vision 2030,” opening up the country to new economic opportunities, attracting more foreign professionals and seeking a louder voice on the global stage.  

That included a visit this week to Brussels by Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi leader, for the first-ever summit between the heads of European Union and Arab Gulf countries and an upcoming “Davos in the Desert” summit of international business and political leaders, with a senior member of the U.K. government expected to attend.

An 11th-hour postponement of a visit by Mohammed to the U.K., which had been due to take place in December 2023 after months of detailed preparation — the first such encounter since the murder of the Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi six years ago — irked the former Tory government. The snub was underlined when the Saudi monarch went on to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin in Riyadh shortly afterward.

Pressed on when the plan for a U.K. visit might be revived, Khalid suggested the availability of King Charles III may have been a decisive factor in the postponement and conceded that “MBS” had made specific demands on the British monarch’s diary.

“He wanted to see his majesty. None of that was working — because things were just not aligned at the end of the day. Spending 10 minutes with everyone that is important is not really worthwhile. You want to spend good quality time with each other because we are friends not just allies.”

A thawing in the diplomatic spat

A thaw in the diplomatic spat looks likely after the recent change of U.K. government, with the ambassador confirming he “hoped that we get a visit one way or the other in the next two, three months, if not sooner.”  

He suggested a visit by the U.K. prime minister to Saudi Arabia was the more likely outcome.

In the wake of Keir Starmer’s recent investment summit, relations with Saudi Arabia as a strategic trading partner in the Arab world are seen as vital to the British government’s economic outlook.

The Saudi response to the push by Starmer and his Chancellor Rachel Reeves for investment sounded cautiously optimistic: “It just needs — after the traumas of Brexit, Covid, followed by a change of government, not necessarily a shot in the arm, but maybe a cup of coffee to get it going again!”

However, British expats hoping that earlier moves to relax the strict Islamic country’s ban on alcohol outside diplomatic quarters and in strictly limed zones for foreigners look to have undergone a sober reversal, after Khalid suggested such a move would not be popular with the country at large.

“You cannot move in [a] direction the population does not want you to, even in a monarchy,” the ambassador concluded. “Who knows: In the next 200 years, anything could happen. We’ll move at that pace.”