Republican Senator Lindsey Graham announced that he would renew efforts to establish a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel and that Hamas' attack on Israel only spurred it to step up its activity.
Graham, who arrived in Israel for his second visit in support since the war began, told reporters in Tel Aviv: "I leave here more optimistic than I did. I asked Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister Benny Gantz whether they would like to move forward with an agreement with Saudi Arabia. Their answer was yes. I will send this message to Riyadh and pass it on to Crown Prince Mohammed Salman."
Graham, who played a significant role in the normalization process before the war broke out, said that already after his previous visit to Israel, two months ago, he heard from the Saudi leader that he was still interested in advancing an agreement with Israel. "The biggest nightmare of the Ayatollah regime in Iran is that Arabs and Israelis will make peace.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana during a visit to the village of Gaza, photo: Knesset Spokesperson's Office – Noam Moshkowitz
"I think this attack is also intended to stop the reconciliation efforts between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The crown prince asked me whether there is a stable government in Israel that wants this. I told him that there was a partner, but that security considerations would come first even more than before. At the end of the visit, I will go to him and update him on what I heard [about Israel's desire for an agreement with Saudi Arabia]," Graham added.
The senior senator, who has good relations with the Biden administration, stressed that Israel must destroy Hamas. He also justified Israel's demand for buffer zones in the Gaza Strip. "We need to make sure that the events of October 7 do not happen again. Hamas must be destroyed militarily and civilianly, and it must not rule Gaza, because that is what will prevent peace with Saudi Arabia. I don't trust the Palestinian Authority either. We cannot continue with the education of Palestinian children to hate and kill Jews," Graham stressed.
US Senator Lindsey Graham visiting the village of Gaza, photo: Knesset Spokesperson's Office – Noam Moshkovitz
The American official added that there must be a process of de-radicalization in Gaza. "Netanyahu is 20% right on this matter. You need to learn from our experience. In Afghanistan we fought for <> years and in the end the Taliban came back. You need to reach a situation where Hamas does not return, as happened in Germany and Japan. ", Graham said. On the other hand, the senator rejected proposals by senior Israeli officials to resettle Gaza residents in other countries, saying they were unrealistic.
Earlier, Graham toured Kibbutz Kfar Gaza with Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana. The two met with kibbutz residents from the families of the abductees; And with Dawn Norman, who shared with them how he was forced to hide for about 30 hours in the safe room with his wife while they heard the terrorists shooting and talking nearby.
Knesset Speaker Ohana and Senator Graham heard from a SWAT soldier about the battle that took place on October 7 in the kibbutz to try and save the lives of the residents, and representatives of the IDF and ZAKA who spoke about the horrors they witnessed after the kibbutz was cleansed of terrorists.
The Speaker of the Knesset 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 this and for his many years of support on behalf of the Knesset and the citizens of Israel. No American would accept such a threat less than a mile from his home, and neither would any Israeli. Many are still abducted in Gaza and our mission is not only to eliminate Hamas but to bring them home to their families."
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