🇸🇦🇮🇱 Saudi Arabia Blocks Attempt to Isolate Israel at Emergency Summit

Last Updated on July 20, 2024

Israeli media reports reveal that Saudi Arabia played a key role in thwarting an attempt by Arab and Muslim nations to impose military and economic isolation on Israel. The move took place during an emergency summit in Riyadh, jointly organized by the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), with a primary focus on the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

Channel 12 reported that the majority of participating states sought to enforce five measures against Israel. These included preventing the transfer of U.S. military equipment to Israel from American bases in the Middle East, suspending all diplomatic and economic contacts with Israel, reducing oil sales to the United States due to its support for Israel, halting Israeli air traffic over the Gulf, and sending a joint delegation to the United States, Europe, and Russia to advocate for a ceasefire.

The resolution proposing these measures faced opposition from Israel’s Abraham Accords partners, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. Egypt and Jordan, nations with longstanding peace agreements with Israel, also joined in rejecting the measures. Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, and Djibouti were among the countries that opposed the proposed actions.

Despite tensions rising after an attack by Hamas on Gaza-area communities in early October, resulting in casualties and hostages, efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia appear to persist, albeit at a slower pace.

It is noteworthy that Israel and Mauritania had diplomatic relations between 1999 and 2009, which were frozen during the Gaza war of 2009. Djibouti, situated on the African Horn, has never established diplomatic ties with Israel.

Additionally, an Iranian demand to designate the Israel Occupation Forces as a terror organization was rejected during the summit.