{"id":8300,"date":"2026-05-01T18:06:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T17:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/?p=8300"},"modified":"2026-08-24T18:13:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T17:13:21","slug":"israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel and Saudi Arabia Rapidly Drifting Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Expectations were once high that Saudi Arabia would become the next country to join the Abraham Accords, but recent shifts in Saudi foreign policy make normalization with Israel increasingly unlikely in the foreseeable future.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Israel and Saudi Arabia Rapidly Drifting Apart<\/h3>\n

Soeren Kern | Israel My Glory<\/a> | May 1, 2026<\/p>\n

Prospects are fading for a deal to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Over the past several years, expectations were high that Saudi Arabia would become the next country to join the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements that formalized diplomatic, economic, and security relations between Israel and several Arab countries. Recent shifts in Saudi foreign policy, however, make normalization with Israel increasingly unlikely in the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

The changes in Saudi foreign policy are mainly being driven by the kingdom\u2019s increasing geopolitical rivalry with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Formerly close partners, the two countries are now engaged in heated disputes over several issues, including economic competition, oil production quotas, and differences over foreign policy. The primary flashpoint between Saudi Arabia and the UAE is that they are backing opposing factions in the conflicts in Yemen, Somalia, and Sudan.<\/p>\n

To get the upper hand vis-\u00e0-vis the UAE, Saudi Arabia has embraced an Islamist axis led by Turkey and Qatar, two countries that are engaged in a Cold War with Israel and are opposed to the UAE\u2019s close relationship with the Jewish state. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) recently signed a series of economic and defense agreements with Qatar and is considering deeper defense cooperation with Turkey. He also signed a \u201cstrategic mutual defense agreement\u201d with Pakistan, the only Muslim country that possesses nuclear weapons. Analysts have described that pact as \u201can Islamic NATO in the making\u201d and an \u201cIslamic security alternative that bypasses Israeli- and American-led [defense] architectures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue Reading Here<\/a>\u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Expectations were once high that Saudi Arabia would become the next country to join the Abraham Accords, but recent shifts in Saudi foreign policy make normalization with Israel increasingly unlikely in the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,233],"tags":[234,65,255],"class_list":["post-8300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geopolitics","category-middle-east","tag-friends-of-israel","tag-israel","tag-saudi-arabia"],"yoast_head":"\nIsrael and Saudi Arabia Rapidly Drifting Apart - Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israel and Saudi Arabia Rapidly Drifting Apart - Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Expectations were once high that Saudi Arabia would become the next country to join the Abraham Accords, but recent shifts in Saudi foreign policy make normalization with Israel increasingly unlikely in the foreseeable future.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-01T17:06:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-24T17:13:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/eye-on-the-middle-east-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Soeren Kern\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Soeren Kern\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/01\\\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/01\\\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Soeren Kern\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/398976192ef9b41439530e643f131b36\"},\"headline\":\"Israel and Saudi Arabia Rapidly Drifting Apart\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-01T17:06:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-24T17:13:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/01\\\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":312,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/01\\\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/eye-on-the-middle-east-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Friends of Israel\",\"Israel\",\"Saudi Arabia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Geopolitics\",\"Middle East\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/01\\\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/01\\\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\\\/\",\"name\":\"Israel and Saudi Arabia Rapidly Drifting Apart - Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/01\\\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/01\\\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/eye-on-the-middle-east-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-01T17:06:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-24T17:13:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/398976192ef9b41439530e643f131b36\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/01\\\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/01\\\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/01\\\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/eye-on-the-middle-east-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/eye-on-the-middle-east-1.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":340},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/01\\\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Geopolitics\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/category\\\/geopolitics\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Middle East\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/category\\\/geopolitics\\\/middle-east\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Israel and Saudi Arabia Rapidly Drifting Apart\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/\",\"name\":\"Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East\",\"description\":\"Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/398976192ef9b41439530e643f131b36\",\"name\":\"Soeren Kern\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.soerenkern.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/soerenkern.com\\\/web\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Israel and Saudi Arabia Rapidly Drifting Apart - Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Israel and Saudi Arabia Rapidly Drifting Apart - Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East","og_description":"Expectations were once high that Saudi Arabia would become the next country to join the Abraham Accords, but recent shifts in Saudi foreign policy make normalization with Israel increasingly unlikely in the foreseeable future.","og_url":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/","og_site_name":"Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East","article_published_time":"2026-05-01T17:06:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-24T17:13:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":340,"url":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/eye-on-the-middle-east-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Soeren Kern","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Soeren Kern","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/"},"author":{"name":"Soeren Kern","@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/#\/schema\/person\/398976192ef9b41439530e643f131b36"},"headline":"Israel and Saudi Arabia Rapidly Drifting Apart","datePublished":"2026-05-01T17:06:23+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-24T17:13:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/"},"wordCount":312,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/eye-on-the-middle-east-1.jpg","keywords":["Friends of Israel","Israel","Saudi Arabia"],"articleSection":["Geopolitics","Middle East"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/","url":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/","name":"Israel and Saudi Arabia Rapidly Drifting Apart - Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/eye-on-the-middle-east-1.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-01T17:06:23+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-24T17:13:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/#\/schema\/person\/398976192ef9b41439530e643f131b36"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/eye-on-the-middle-east-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/eye-on-the-middle-east-1.jpg","width":600,"height":340},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/2026\/05\/01\/israel-and-saudi-arabia-rapidly-drifting-apart\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Geopolitics","item":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/category\/geopolitics\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Middle East","item":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/category\/geopolitics\/middle-east\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Israel and Saudi Arabia Rapidly Drifting Apart"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/#website","url":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/","name":"Soeren Kern | Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East","description":"Geopolitical Perspectives on Europe, America and the Middle East","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/#\/schema\/person\/398976192ef9b41439530e643f131b36","name":"Soeren Kern","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.soerenkern.com"],"url":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8301,"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8300\/revisions\/8301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soerenkern.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}