Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman delivered a firm rebuff to U.S. President Donald Trump’s push for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords during a tense Oval Office meeting last week, citing deep-seated domestic opposition fueled by the Gaza war and the lack of progress toward Palestinian statehood, according to multiple U.S. and Israeli sources.
The November 18 encounter, described by two anonymous U.S. officials as “difficult” and marked by Trump’s “disappointment and irritation,” highlighted persistent roadblocks to normalizing ties between Riyadh and Jerusalem— a cornerstone of Trump’s Middle East vision. Despite the friction, the leaders inked deals on advanced weaponry and nuclear cooperation, underscoring the enduring economic and strategic pillars of the U.S.-Saudi alliance.
Trump, fresh off brokering a Gaza ceasefire earlier this year, entered the talks with high expectations for expanding the 2020 Abraham Accords, which already count the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and—most recently—Kazakhstan among Israel’s Arab diplomatic partners. White House aides had signaled in advance that the president sought “progress” on the issue, sources told Israel’s Channel 12 news.
But bin Salman, often known as MBS, pushed back forcefully. “Saudi society is not ready” for such a step amid widespread anti-Israel sentiment lingering from the 2023-2024 Gaza conflict, he told Trump, according to the officials. Speaking publicly afterward, the crown prince reiterated Riyadh’s precondition: a “clear, time-bound, and irreversible pathway” to a two-state solution, with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital—a demand flatly rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We want to be part of the Abraham Accords, but we also want to be sure that we secure a clear path toward a two-state solution,” MBS stated during the meeting, a line analysts say was deliberately calibrated to appeal to Arab publics while stalling U.S. pressure. The exchange grew “heated,” with Trump urging immediate action and MBS countering that public hostility in the kingdom—where polls show 76% view the accords negatively—makes normalization untenable now.
