Whether it’s managing an increasingly tense relationship with China or trying to sustain Western military support for Ukraine, the U.S. has its hands full. The Biden Administration, however, has nonetheless chosen to devote a significant amount of diplomatic capital trying to advance a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, two of its longstanding partners in the Middle East.
There’s no question the Biden Administration views such a deal as a seismic win in a part of the world often associated with conflict and diplomatic logjams. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the prospects of such an accord “a transformative event.” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan commented this month that while the negotiations weren’t close to being finalized, the sides have settled on a “broad understanding of many of the key elements.” President Biden will no doubt speak about the diplomacy with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
The question, however, isn’t whether an Israel-Saudi normalization agreement would be a good thing for the U.S.—it’s how high a price Washington is willing to pay to get the deal across the finish line. It’s imperative for the White House to ensure that its desire for a major diplomatic accomplishment doesn’t blind itself to the risks of giving away too much.
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