"MBS will get killed"
Lindsey Graham: Saudi Crown Prince Won’t Recognize Israel Without ‘Better Deal for Palestinians’
Lindsey Graham says Saudis will need positives for Palestinians in order to join the Abraham Accords. That, he says, is the new future, rather than Hamas and Hezbollah.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) warned on Wednesday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will not move forward with normalization with Israel unless he can secure “an outcome better for the Palestinians,” saying his political survival depends on it. Speaking at The Jerusalem Post’s Washington Conference, Graham said bluntly, “MBS is not going to recognize Israel until he gets an outcome better for the Palestinians, or he will get killed. That is the truth.”
Graham, one of the key US lawmakers involved in back-channel efforts between Washington, Riyadh, and Jerusalem, said any American-led package must visibly improve the Palestinian situation without rewarding Hamas or undermining Israel’s security. “I am not asking Israel to reward terrorism,” he said. “I am asking Israel to be open-minded to end the conflict… where Israel is secure and MBS can move his region forward.”
He argued that the region had been “this close” to a breakthrough before Hamas’s October 7 massacre and the two years of war that followed. Hamas, he said, deliberately filmed the atrocities to sabotage the Saudi track: “They wanted you to look. They wanted to harden hearts in Israel and turn the Arab world against any deal.”
Graham insisted that no Saudi-Israel agreement is possible without dismantling Iran’s proxy networks. “Hamas needs to go. Hezbollah needs to be disarmed,” he said, dismissing the idea that an international stabilization force could disarm Hamas. “You’ll find a unicorn quicker. Only Israel can do it.”
He also pressed for a new doctrine toward Lebanon: “There is no future for a country that tolerates an armed Hezbollah dedicated to destroying the Jewish state.” He said he is urging the Trump administration to prepare for potential joint US-Israel action and announced forthcoming legislation targeting Iran’s biggest revenue stream: “I am introducing a bill that will punish any country that continues to buy Iranian oil and gas.”
Calling Israel “a good investment for America,” Graham argued that shared values, shared threats, and Israeli military capacity make it essential to US strategy. “We cannot afford not to have Israel,” he said. “If we had to replicate the IDF’s capabilities in the region, we would have to double our military budget.”
Graham expressed support for sensitive items such as a possible F-35 sale to Riyadh if that is what it takes to secure a historic agreement. “If it gets Saudi Arabia and Israel to make peace, it’s the best idea in 3,000 years.”
Despite the fallout of recent years, he said a strategic opening remains: “Hamas and Hezbollah are not the future. The Abraham Accords are real. The change in the Arab world is real. Do not miss this moment.”