Republican Senate candidate Leora Levy is set to face incumbent Democrat Richard Blumenthal in the Connecticut Senate race.
Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia stoked Israeli hopes of warming ties between the two countries, with its decision to open its skies to Israeli planes.
In general, the points of agreement between Washington and Riyadh transcend the contentious issues between the two countries.
Not only was the Lapid-Abbas phone call good for Lapid politically, but it also was good for the US president politically to help explain why the US was needed in the Mideast.
At the end of the day, the reason for Biden’s trip is probably more complex than this report makes it out to be. It’s not all about Israel or oil. It is about managing the ties with Riyadh.
The call between the two comes on the heels of Biden's decision to retain Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp on its foreign terror list.
Revelation of past secret trips by Israeli officials to Saudi Arabia comes amid reports that the US is working on normalizing relations between the countries.
The younger elements within Saudi society are more liberal and are clearly trending toward an approach to Israel that does not preclude normalizing ties ahead of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
Israeli officials are concerned that increased pressure on the Saudis, will weaken the regional alliance against Iran.
This should not be an additional cause for US president-elect Joe Biden to realign America’s Mideast policy, and move its orientation away from countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and toward Iran.
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