Two prominent American senators from across the political aisle on Tuesday urged Saudi Arabia to reach a landmark peace accord with Israel by the end of the year as part of a regional settlement that will also include a push towards a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The diplomatic efforts by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) come as the war against Hamas in Gaza reaches the one-year mark, and follow a series of Israeli military operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are Iranian proxies.
“The Iranians fear an Arab-Israel reconciliation more than any weapon you can send their way, because it is a permanent change,” Graham said at a Jerusalem press conference ahead of a trip to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“If by Christmas we do not have a normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Iran will have a strategic victory,” he said, noting that the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre was designed to stop the “march for normalization.”
In a sign of the bipartisan nature of the trip, the Republican senator said that he would tell the Saudi leader that a defense treaty with the United States can be attained under President Joe Biden’s tenure, since it will likely be harder to reach under a future administration.
‘An historic opportunity’
“We are here at a historic time … and now it is an historic moment of opportunity,” Blumenthal stated. “It really is a magnificent potential achievement with enduring effect to match the successes of the battlefield with diplomatic successes. I hope that diplomacy may achieve a cessation of fighting, leading to the return of the hostages, and a push toward normalizing relations in the region, along with humanitarian aid and rebuilding.”
With an Israeli military response to last week’s Iranian missile attack expected soon, the senators were looking to leverage Israel’s successes on the battlefields of Gaza and Lebanon as an opportunity to bring about a regional settlement, spearheaded by peace with Saudi Arabia.
Still, the two politicians differed on how Israel should respond to the Iranian attack. Blumenthal suggested that Israel should consider alternatives to attacking Iranian nuclear sites, reflecting the views of the administration, while Graham said he would support whatever Israel decides to do.
“It has been a constant policy of the U.S. to try to avoid a nuclear-armed Iran … but attacking a nuclear facility right now is, perhaps, not the wisest course to take,” Blumenthal said, adding that a further widening of an escalating regional war may not be in Israel’s or America’s interest.
“I don’t know what targets Israel will pick, but I know it will respond,”Graham said. “Missile defense worked very well, but eventually one will get through and kill Israelis. It’s just a matter of time, and that would trigger a massive response.”
He called Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a “religious Nazi” who would use a nuclear weapon against the State of Israel if he could.
“The best way to make peace in this region is to cripple and weaken Iran,” Graham said. “They are the source of most of the conflict.”
During their visit to Israel, the two senators met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli leaders, as well as the parents of the murdered American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin and other hostage families.
‘The two-state solution died on Oct. 7‘
Both senators said they would urge Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Gulf countries to join forces in a regional push for stability with the Palestinians, even if it stops short of the two-state solution.
“The two-state solution died on Oct. 7,” Graham said. “The Israeli public will not accept a Palestinian state as a result of this barbaric terrorist attack, because it’s rewarding terrorism. But you are not going to have peace until you deal with the Palestinians. They aren’t going anywhere.”
He noted that just as it took decades to de-radicalize the Germans and Japanese, it will take decades to teach Palestinian kids “not to hate the Jews,” suggesting that Gulf countries need to step in and play a part in a reformation process.
Blumenthal conceded that the two-state solution he has long supported is currently off the table.
“At the same time, any enduring comprehensive peace agreement has to include some form of self-determination and self-government for the Palestinian people,” the Democratic senator said.
Graham, who was on his seventh trip to Israel since last year’s Hamas massacre pledged to have Israel’s back as long as he lives.