WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said part of the motivation for the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas’ latest attack on the Zionist regime may have been disrupting a potential normalizing of Zionist-Saudi Arabia ties.
“It wouldn’t be a surprise that part of the motivation may have been to disrupt efforts to bring Saudi Arabia and Israel together, along with other countries that may be interested in normalizing relations with Israel,” Blinken told CNN in an interview on Sunday.
Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month he believed his regime was on the cusp of ‘peace’ with Saudi Arabia, predicting it could reshape the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has long insisted on the Palestinians’ right to statehood as a condition of recognizing the Zionist regime - something that many members of Netanyahu’s coalition have long resisted.
The United said on Sunday that Saudi-Zionist normalization efforts should continue despite the latest attack.
“We think it would be in both sides’ interests to continue to pursue this possibility,” U.S. Deputy National Security adviser Jon Finer told Fox News Sunday.
Blinken added the United States has also taken note of reports of several Americans killed and kidnapped in the occupied territories and Washington is looking to verify the details and figures.
“We have reports that several Americans were killed. We’re working overtime to verify that,” Blinken said.
The secretary of state said details of new U.S. assistance for the occupying regime will be made public later.
“We are looking at specific additional requests that the Israelis have made. I think you’re likely to hear more about that later,” Blinken told CNN.
Blinken claimed there was relative calm on Sunday in most of the occupied territories but intense fighting in Gaza, an Israeli-blockaded Palestinian enclave which has witnessed weeks of protests by youth groups due to long-time grievances related to the Zionist regime’s military occupation.