ISRAEL PERSPECTIVE

Jerusalem, July 24, 2026. In Israel, the announcement by President Donald Trump that a civil nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia would be conditional on Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords has been met with relief after several days of concern. According to the Jerusalem Post, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the pact would only be approved if the kingdom joined the Abraham Accords and accepted a ban on uranium enrichment, comparing the arrangement to those already concluded with Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries.

This clarification comes after the New York Times, cited by the Jerusalem Post, revealed on Tuesday that the US administration was set to submit to Congress a nuclear cooperation pact that included neither a plan for normalization with Israel nor the so-called "Gold Standard" guarantees meant to prevent any military use of nuclear materials. The initial agreement also did not include the Additional Protocol of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which allows for surprise inspections at undeclared sites - a loophole pointed out by Israeli and American officials critical of the project.

This version had sent shockwaves through Israel's political class. Opposition leader Yair Golan accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of having "succeeded in the impossible" by losing both normalization with Riyadh and allowing the kingdom to acquire nuclear capability. Yair Lapid called the reported agreement a "total failure," recalling that preventing any Middle Eastern country from developing indigenous nuclear capability is among the primary responsibilities of an Israeli head of government. Likud Minister Miki Zohar stated that Israel had set its "red lines" in Washington, without confirming whether the initial project crossed them.

After Trump's announcement, Netanyahu welcomed the potential Saudi membership in the Abraham Accords as "a historic leap for peace in the Middle East." However, Israeli officials fear that a civil nuclear deal, even a conditional one, could pave the way for a regional arms race in the face of Iran. On the Saudi side, a source close to the file told Haaretz that "the kingdom will neither accept nor give anything for free," indicating that Riyadh maintains its demand for a clear perspective towards a Palestinian state before any official normalization with Israel.