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Israeli Opposition Calls Saudi Arabia-Iran Reconciliation a Failure for Netanyahu. PHOTOS/Reuters
TEL AVIV – Restoration of diplomatic relations between Arab Saudi and Iran is a foreign policy failure by the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu . This was stated by Netanyahu’s political opponents.
Israel’s opposition says Netanyahu has neglected the country’s external relations to focus on domestic justice reform, a project that has divided the country and brought tens of thousands of protesters onto the streets.
“This is a total and dangerous failure of the Israeli government’s foreign policy,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Twitter, as quoted by AFP, Friday (10/3/2023).
He hailed a “new era” in relations between Israel and the Arab world – most of which view Israel as a pariah – when his country and the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalize relations.
Under the US-brokered Abraham Accords, similar agreements were reached with Bahrain, and later Morocco.
Since the start of that process, Netanyahu has never hidden from his main goal: to bring the world’s main Sunni Muslim power, Saudi Arabia, to the deal as part of a regional alliance against Israel’s foe, Iran.
By contrast, Riyadh and its regional rival Iran said on Friday they had agreed to restore ties and reopen diplomatic missions in a surprise, China-brokered announcement.
Contacted by AFP, Israel’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment. But some Israeli opposition figures view the Riyadh-Tehran rapprochement as a failure for Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister.
He returned to power in December in a coalition with ultra-Orthodox Jews and far-right allies.
“This is the collapse of the regional defense wall that we started to build against Iran,” Lapid continued. “This is what happens when you are busy all day with crazy legal projects instead of dealing with Iran,” he added.
(esn)
