Al-Jazeera Net correspondents
Occupied Jerusalem – The Israeli newspapers and media dealt with the Saudi-Iranian agreement, as they considered it a blow to Israel and an obstacle to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declared aspirations to expand the circle of normalization and the so-called “Abraham Accord,” in addition to a failure of US President Joe Biden’s administration in his quest to prevent China from strengthening its influence in the Middle East. .
The official announcement of an agreement – with Chinese mediation – paving the way for the resumption of relations between Riyadh and Tehran, was preceded by Netanyahu’s statements from the Italian capital, Rome, in which he revealed his intention to continue his efforts to achieve his government’s goal of normalizing relations between Tel Aviv and Riyadh, by creating the Hijaz railway and linking Haifa and Saudi Arabia with the train project through Jordan. .
Criticisms and accusations
In the followingmath of the Saudi-Iranian agreement, a lot of criticism was directed at Netanyahu, and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett attacked the Netanyahu government, claiming that the agreement was “a complete failure on its part, stemming from a combination of political negligence and foreign diplomacy, general weakness and internal conflict in Israel.”
The head of the opposition bloc, Yair Lapid, also expressed the same position, saying that the agreement between Tehran and Riyadh is “a complete and dangerous failure in the foreign policy of the Israeli government,” considering the resumption of relations between the two countries as a collapse of the regional defense wall, which his government began building once morest Iran.
In the context, a senior Israeli diplomatic official accused the previous government, led by Bennett and Lapid, of being responsible for the rapprochement that occurred between Iran and Saudi Arabia, attributing that to a regional feeling at the time of American and Israeli weakness.
Away from the exchange of accusations between the coalition and the opposition in Israel, the head of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee in the Knesset, Yuli Edelstein, said that the renewal of relations between Riyadh and Tehran “is very bad for Israel and the entire free world.”
slap and blow
Under the title “Fateful Courtship”, Itamar Eichner, the diplomatic affairs correspondent for the website “Ynet”, wrote an article on the repercussions of the resumption of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran on Israel, noting that the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement would hinder and cause damage to Netanyahu’s efforts to normalize relations between the two countries. Tel Aviv and Riyadh, and it will prevent the expansion of the circle of Abrahamic agreements with more Arab and Islamic countries.
Eichner believes that the resumption of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran is a message from Riyadh indicating that Israel does not have the military capacity at the current stage to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, and therefore Riyadh chose reconciliation with Tehran while strengthening the path of the possibility of returning to the nuclear agreement, according to Eichner.
With regard to the policy of US President Joe Badin’s administration in the Middle East, the Diplomatic Affairs correspondent estimated that the resumption of official relations between Tehran and Riyadh through China is a failure of the White House’s policy and the strengthening of Beijing’s influence in the Middle East, in addition to that the resumption of relations between the two countries expresses Riyadh’s lack of confidence in Washington and in Netanyahu’s vision of normalizing relations in return for isolating Iran and undermining its influence and nuclear project.
He explained that Israeli diplomacy – and Netanyahu in particular – received what he described as a “blow and slap” from this rapprochement between Riyadh and Tehran, as Tel Aviv viewed Saudi Arabia as guaranteed in the anti-Iranian camp.
And at a time when he believes that Riyadh has concealed relations with Israel, the military analyst comments, “Saudi Arabia has adopted this diplomacy as a kind of insurance policy for any risks, and most importantly to attract Iran to resume relations and restore them to their previous state.”
America and China
In parallel with the Israeli internal criticism and talk of a slap to Netanyahu and a failure to Biden, the writer specialized in covering Arab and Islamic affairs, Smadar Peri, said, “The Iranian-Saudi rapprochement and the resumption of official relations between the two countries is a success for Chinese diplomacy in the Middle East.”
In her article in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, which came under the title “They do not hold any account for Biden,” Berry reviewed China’s role in resuming relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, saying that “this is tantamount to a success for Beijing, and a signal to Washington that China does not hold any account for it and is competing with it.” In the Middle East”. She also described the Chinese role and the agreement between Riyadh and Tehran as “spitting in Biden’s face,” saying, “The matter is not only limited to Iran avoiding nuclear negotiations, Saudi Arabia now gives priority to the Chinese president and clearly ignores the White House.”
Not only that, as the author believes that the resumption of Saudi-Iranian relations will keep Israel surprised and concerned, especially since hours before the official announcement of the agreement, Netanyahu made statements from Rome, where he appeared lively, energetic, and boastful, and declared that his government was moving towards the goal of normalization with Riyadh. However, it seems that this dream will not be realized in the near future.
Far from the Israeli dream of normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia, the military analyst in the newspaper “Haaretz” Amos Harel wrote an article entitled “The Iranian rapprochement with Saudi Arabia has nothing to do with Israel,” indicating that it is natural to resume relations between Riyadh and Tehran, and said, “Israel, as usual, is convinced It is the center of the Middle East, if not the whole world.
However, the military analyst corrects his analysis by saying, “Behind the renewed rapprochement between Riyadh and Tehran, following 7 years of separation and estrangement, are considerations of the two old rivals who have nothing to do with Israel. As Israel was unable to do much to persuade the Saudis to normalize and publicly join the axis once morest Iran.”
Harel attributed the resumption of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran to the exchange of roles and shifts between the world powers, and not between the governments of Israel. For years, the United States had indicated its intention to reduce its presence in the Middle East, while China increased its interest in what was happening in the region, according to him.
The Israeli military analyst concluded, “The Saudi-Iranian rapprochement reaffirms that if anyone in Israel expects Saudi pilots to fight for us in Iran’s skies, he is living in illusions. These far-fetched ideas have been discarded forever.”