MBS’s pushback on Israel normalization reportedly irked Trump
US President Donald Trump was left “disappointed and angry” after a “tense” exchange with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over normalization with Israel during their White House meeting last week, Channel 12 reports, citing two senior American officials and an additional source familiar with the conversation.
According to the unconfirmed report, Trump was the one to raise the issue, urging the crown prince to move forward immediately with normalization. In response, Bin Salman pushed back, saying that while he isn’t against normalization in principle, widespread anti-Israel sentiment in Saudi Arabia following the war in Gaza doesn’t allow for the move at this time.
While the conversation remained polite, a senior US official tells the Hebrew network that Trump was “disappointed and angry” over the crown prince’s refusal.
The official adds that “bin Salman did not say ‘never’ in the meeting regarding normalization with Israel. He left the door open to doing it in the future — but the issue of a two-state solution is a major problem” — a condition bin Salman stated publicly at the White House.
The Saudi embassy in Washington did not provide Channel 12 with a response to the report, while the White House responded only that “President Trump calls on all Middle Eastern countries to join the Abraham Accords.”
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