‘Israel’ is in no rush to supply Saudi Arabia with advanced air-defense systems to counter attacks by Yemeni Armed Forces, with any potential deal likely contingent on Riyadh offering significant strategic concessions, including dropping its demand for progress toward a Palestinian state as a condition for normalization, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Saturday.
In an analysis, the newspaper’s military correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai argued that US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks about reviving Israeli-Saudi normalization likely reflected his own assessment rather than a concrete diplomatic breakthrough.
Trump suggested Friday that normalization was back on the agenda, claiming that Saudi Arabia was pleased to receive Israeli and US support against the Yemenis. According to Ben-Yishai, however, Israeli assistance to Riyadh has so far focused primarily on intelligence concerning potential targets.
The report said ‘Israel’ has both US pressure and its own strategic interests driving its support for Saudi Arabia. Washington has asked the Israeli military to assist the kingdom, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government seeks to prevent Riyadh from pressing the United States into concessions to Iran amid escalating attacks from Yemen. ‘Israel’ also hopes that helping Saudi Arabia “could generate goodwill” and revive normalization efforts stalled following October 7, 2023, attack, according to the report.
Riyadh in Need of Air Defense Systems
However, Riyadh’s most urgent needs extend beyond intelligence to early-warning radar and advanced air-defense systems, including Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow 2 interceptors, to counter Yemeni ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and explosive-laden drones.
According to Ben-Yishai, these systems would help protect major airports in Riyadh and Dhahran, as well as vital energy infrastructure along the Red Sea coast, including facilities near Yanbu and pumping stations along the East-West oil pipeline, which enables Saudi Arabia to export crude without routing shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
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‘Israel’, however, is reluctant to part with air-defense capabilities that it urgently needs amid ongoing fighting on multiple fronts. Ben-Yishai wrote that Tel Aviv “would likely consider such a move only if Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Saudi royal family offered something of exceptional strategic value in return,” sufficient to justify relinquishing systems Israel itself urgently needs.
The report contrasted Saudi Arabia’s position with that of the United Arab Emirates, which has established diplomatic relations with ‘Israel’ under the so-called “Abraham Accords”, which saw UAE, Bahrain and Morocco normalizing ties with the Israeli regime in 2020.
Citing foreign reports, Ben-Yishai said ‘Israel’ had supplied the UAE with radar-detection systems and an Iron Dome battery, potentially alongside additional capabilities. He argued that the UAE’s diplomatic ties and cooperation with ‘Israel’, including on Gaza-related matters, provide a stronger basis for such assistance.
Palestinian State as a Saudi Condition
Saudi Arabia, by contrast, continues to condition normalization on negotiations with the Palestinian Authority toward establishing a Palestinian state and resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of a two-state solution. Ben-Yishai suggested that a willingness by Riyadh to drop that condition could prompt the current Israeli government, or a future administration, to respond more favorably to requests for air-defense assistance.
“If the Saudis were to discreetly signal that they are willing to drop this condition and normalize relations with Israel,” Ben-Yishai wrote, the Israeli government might respond favorably to a Saudi request for air-defense assistance.
Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia may be reluctant to make such a concession, particularly as European countries have begun reinforcing its defenses. The report cited Greece’s deployment of Patriot batteries and France’s recent dispatch of air-defense systems, although the specific French capabilities were not disclosed.
Whether the European deployments will sufficiently address Saudi Arabia’s needs remains uncertain, Ben-Yishai wrote. If they prove inadequate, Riyadh could still seek additional Israeli assistance. For now, however, he concluded that “Trump’s vision of renewed Israeli-Saudi normalization emerging from the kingdom’s confrontation with the Houthis appears premature,” referring to Yemeni Armed Forces.
Western, Israeli and some Arab media routinely refer to Yemeni Armed Forces and Ansarullah revolutionary movement as the “Houthis,” a label derived from the surname of the movement’s founder, Sayyed Hussein Al-Houthi. While the term has become widely established in international reporting, it identifies the movement by its family name rather than by its formal name, Ansarullah, or the institutional designation of the Yemeni Armed Forces.
Source: Ynet (translated and edited by Al-Manar)