Republican Senator Lindsey Graham announced that he will resume efforts to establish a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, saying that the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7 on Israel only made him to more determined to pursue this goal.
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Graham, who arrived in Israel for what is his second support visit since the war broke out, told reporters in Tel Aviv: "I'm leaving here more optimistic than when I arrived. I asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister Benny Gantz if they would want to move forward with an agreement with Saudi Arabia. Their answer was positive. I will take this message to Riyadh and convey it to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman."
Video: PM Netanyahu with Senator Lindsey Graham / GPO - Yehezkel Kandil
Graham, who had a significant role in the Saudi-Israeli normalization process prior to the war, said that after his previous visit to Israel two months ago, he heard from the Saudi leader that he was still interested in promoting the agreement with Israel. "The Ayatollah regime in Iran's worst nightmare is that Arabs and Israelis make peace," he said. "I think this [Hamas] attack was also meant to stop the reconciliation efforts between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The crown prince asked me if there is a stable Israeli government that wants this. I told him there is a partner but that security considerations will be even more important than before. At the end of the visit here I will go to him and update him on what I heard," Graham added.
The senior senator, who has good relations with the Biden administration, emphasized that Israel must destroy Hamas. He also justified Israel's demand for buffer zones in the Strip. "We need to make sure that the events of October 7 do not happen again. Hamas needs to be destroyed and must not rule Gaza, because that is what will prevent peace with Saudi Arabia. I also do not trust the Palestinian Authority. You cannot have Palestinian children continue to be taught to hate and kill Jews," Graham stressed.
The South Carolina lawmaker added that a deradicalization process must take place in Gaza. "Netanyahu is 100% right about that. You need to learn from our experience. In Afghanistan we fought for 20 years and in the end the Taliban came back. You need to get to a situation where Hamas does not come back; like what happened in Germany and Japan," Graham said. On the other hand, the senator rejected proposals by senior Israelis to resettle Gaza residents in other countries, saying they were not realistic.
Earlier, Graham toured Kibbutz Kfar Aza with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana. The two met with kibbutz residents from the families of the captives; and with Shahar Shnorrman, who shared with them how he had to hide in a safe room with his wife for about 30 hours while hearing the terrorists shooting and talking nearby.
Ohana and Senator Graham heard from a police counterterrorism elite fighter about the battle that took place on October 7 in the kibbutz in an attempt to save the lives of the residents, and IDF and ZAKA representatives who told of the horrors they saw after the kibbutz was cleared of terrorists.
The Knesset speaker said: "Senator Graham is one of the best friends of the State of Israel. This is the second time he has come here during this war and I would like to thank him for that and his long-standing support on behalf of the Knesset and Israeli citizens. No American would have accepted such a threat within less than a mile of his home, and neither would any Israeli. Many are still being held hostage in Gaza and our mission is not only to defeat Hamas but to bring them home to their families."
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