America, Israel and Saudi are “at the cusp of a deal”

Muhammad bin salmanmbs does little to hide his relish at the prospect of a between America, Israel and Saudi Arabia. In a rare television interview on September 20th, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and the country’s de facto ruler acknowledged with a smile that an is on the cards. “Every day we get closer. It seems it’s for the first time real, serious.” A pact would, he said, be “the biggest historical deal since the cold war”. On September 22nd Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, confirmed that the trio of countries were “at the cusp” of a deal. It would, he said, be a “quantum leap”. Four days later Israel’s tourism minister landed in Riyadh for a conference. He arrived to little fanfare, but as the first-ever public visit by an Israeli cabinet minister to the kingdom, it was a historic moment.Formal diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia, the richest and arguably most influential Arab state, and Israel, the Jewish state which the kingdom has long ostracised, have been a long time coming. Since becoming crown prince in 2017, , as Prince Muhammad is known, has held at least one secret meeting with Mr Netanyahu. Both countries have a shared rival in Iran and quietly do business deals. But in 2020 the Abraham accords were signed between Israel and several Arab states, without Saudi Arabia. Few expected Israel-Saudi ties to be formalised during the lifetime of the prince’s father, King Salman, who is of a generation for whom any relationship with Israel was unthinkable.