Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) warned on Wednesday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will not move forward with normalization with Israel unless he can secure “an outcome better for the Palestinians,” saying his political survival depends on it. Speaking at The Jerusalem Post’s Washington Conference, Graham said bluntly, “MBS is not going to recognize Israel until he gets an outcome better for the Palestinians, or he will get killed. That is the truth.”
Graham, one of the key US lawmakers involved in back-channel efforts between Washington, Riyadh, and Jerusalem, said any American-led package must visibly improve the Palestinian situation without rewarding Hamas or undermining Israel’s security. “I am not asking Israel to reward terrorism,” he said. “I am asking Israel to be open-minded to end the conflict… where Israel is secure and MBS can move his region forward.”
He argued that the region had been “this close” to a breakthrough before Hamas’s October 7 massacre and the two years of war that followed. Hamas, he said, deliberately filmed the atrocities to sabotage the Saudi track: “They wanted you to look. They wanted to harden hearts in Israel and turn the Arab world against any deal.” Graham insisted that no Saudi-Israel agreement is possible without dismantling Iran’s proxy networks. “Hamas needs to go. Hezbollah needs to be disarmed,” he said, dismissing the idea that an international stabilization force could disarm Hamas. “You’ll find a unicorn quicker. Only Israel can do it.” (Read More)
