Jewish World Update Jul/Aug 2024
Saudis Defend Israel, Chastise Iran
by Joshua Marks
(JNS)—Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of instigating the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza to undermine progress in reaching a normalization agreement between Riyadh and Jerusalem.
In an interview with Israeli public broadcaster Kan News, a source close to the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia also said Tehran promotes terrorism and suggested that Saudi Arabia played a role in thwarting the drone and missile attack against Israel by the Islamic Republic and its proxies on April 13.
“Iran is a nation that endorses terrorism, and the world should have curtailed it much earlier,” the Saudi royal said.
In its first-ever direct attack on the Jewish state, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles in mid-April, with the vast majority of them intercepted by Israel and allied militaries. The Kan interview marked the first Saudi acknowledgment that it helped fend off the attack, along with the United States, United Kingdom, Jordan, and France.
The Iranian attack came in response to an alleged Israeli airstrike in Damascus on April 1 that killed a top Quds Force commander.
The interview with Kan News was published prominently on the House of Saud website, which covers the royal family. In what the article described as a “subtle” acknowledgment, the source told Kan News that the Saudi air defenses automatically intercept “any suspicious entity” that enters its airspace, which could be a reference to attacks from the Houthis, Iran’s terror proxy in Yemen.
“We confront every suspicious object that enters Saudi airspace. This is a matter of sovereignty,” the source said.
The Saudis also shared intelligence with the United States and Israel to help counter the Iranian attack, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The Emiratis, who forged diplomatic ties with Jerusalem in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords, also shared intelligence, U.S. and Israeli officials told the Journal.
Arab governments were initially cautious about giving the information due to fears about directly involving themselves in the conflict and opening themselves up to Iranian reprisals. However, according to the report, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates decided to move forward after talks with the Americans.
Jordan also agreed to allow the Americans and other countries to fly warplanes through its airspace to intercept Iranian missiles and drones. The source also said the Jordanians themselves would assist in shooting them down.
“Two days before the attack, Iranian officials briefed counterparts from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries on the outlines and timing of their plan for the large-scale strikes on Israel so that those countries could safeguard airspace, the officials said. The information was passed along to the U.S., giving Washington and Israel crucial advance warning,” according to the Journal article.
“With an Iranian attack all but certain, the White House ordered the Pentagon to reposition aircraft and missile-defense resources to the region and took the lead in coordinating defensive measures between Israel and Arab governments, according to the senior Israeli official,” the article continued.
“The challenge was to bring all those countries around Israel” at a time when Israel is isolated in the region, the official said. “It was a diplomatic issue.”
On October 7, Hamas led a mass invasion of southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, wounding thousands more and kidnapping some 250 others.
The Saudis put U.S.-brokered Israeli normalization talks on ice after the October 7 massacre and amid the ensuing war, but it has maintained that a deal is still on the table.
For news about Israel updated daily, visit foi.org/news.
