Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, always dismissive of Palestinian national aspirations, suggested on Feb. 6 that if Palestinians want a state, they can establish it in Saudi Arabia. “The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there,” Netanyahu said in a Feb. 6 interview from Washington with Israel’s Channel 14.
Middle East Eye notes that Riyadh has repeatedly said over the past year that only a clear pathway towards Palestinian statehood would lead the Saudi Kingdom to establish formal ties with Israel, but Netanyahu rejected the idea of a State of Palestine outright in the interview, calling it a “security threat to Israel.”
“Especially not a Palestinian state,” he said. “After October 7? Do you know what that is? There was a Palestinian state, it was called Gaza. Gaza, led by Hamas, was a Palestinian state and look what we got.”
Despite that, Netanyahu insisted that peace between Israel and the Kingdom was a reality to come. “It is not only feasible, I think it’s going to happen,” he said.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a sharp statement condemning Netanyahu’s “reckless” comments. Cairo said that such reckless Israeli statements undermine Saudi Arabia’s security and sovereignty, which Egypt considers a “red line,” the crossing of which will not be tolerated, reported Al Ahram. In addition, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry stressed that Saudi Arabia’s stability and national security are integral to Egyptian and Arab security and stability and shall not be compromised.
Similarly, Egypt condemned the Israeli statements as infringing the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state on their entire national territory in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, based on the 4 June 1967 borders.
