WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s ambassador to the U.S. says the occupying regime hopes Washington and Riyadh “fix” their relationship, which has continued to worsen.
Speaking at an event, Michael Herzog said it was necessary for the two countries to come together and mend ties.
“It is important in my view to fix relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia,” Herzog said. “Saudi Arabia is a hugely important actor in our part of the world and in the Islamic world as a whole.”
He added that “strategically speaking, and I’m not ignoring all the difficulties, I think that is very important for our region” that relations improve.
Saudi-U.S. relations have faced several challenges since Biden assumed office last year, with the White House halting the sale of offensive weapons to Riyadh and criticizing the war effort in Yemen.
The Biden administration also signed off on the release of a CIA document that blamed Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Biden has not met with bin Salman and has repeatedly criticized the heir apparent.
Riyadh has recently rejected U.S. calls to increase their oil output outside of a previously arranged agreement. The kingdom has also largely refrained from joining western countries in isolating Moscow over its operation in Ukraine.
Earlier this week, a group of 30 House Democrats called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “recalibrate” the relationship with Riyadh, saying that the current support for the kingdom does not match U.S. interests or values.
“Our continued unqualified support for the Saudi monarchy, which systematically, ruthlessly represses its own citizens, targets critics all over the world, carries out a brutal war in Yemen, and bolsters authoritarian regimes throughout the Middle East and North Africa, runs counter to U.S. national interests and damages the credibility of the United States to uphold our values,” they wrote.
The Zionist regime views Saudi Arabia as part of a moderate axis of Arab countries with which it seeks cooperation against Iran, and has been reported in the past to have lobbied the U.S. in support of economic aid for the country.
The Zionist ambassador said on Thursday that he hoped Riyadh would join a number of other Persian Gulf countries in normalizing relations with the regime.
“We would like to see Saudi Arabia join others in normalizing relations with Israel,” he said. “We understand that this is a complex issue in terms of the Saudi traditionalist views of how to go about Israeli-Arab peace.”