Tucked at the end of an otherwise predictable statement celebrating the first release of hostages in the Israel-Hamas war, President Joe Biden drops a bit of a bombshell: as he admits is unproven at the moment, but he believes Hamas attacked Israel now because the Biden Administration has been working with Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations explicitly to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
The public acknowledgment that the United States is having such conversations with Saudi Arabia is far more than previous administrations have publicly commented on discussions regarding the foreign policy of two traditional Middle Eastern rivals, and it’s more than having two Arab existing partners of Israel normalize relations with the country.