Saudi Arabia: Israel isn’t a ‘partner for peace,’ needs to be reformed

Senior Saudi official pushes back on calls for major reforms to the Palestinian Authority, claiming it is Israel that needs to be reformed.

By World Israel News Staff

A senior Saudi diplomat sharply criticized Israel over the weekend, arguing that it is the Jewish state – not the Palestinian Authority – that must be reformed in order for peace to be achieved in the region.

On Saturday, Manal Radwan, a minister in the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pushed back on calls by Western governments for the Palestinian Authority to undergo sweeping reforms, including ending its financial support for terrorism, halting anti-Israel and antisemitic incitement in PA schools and media outlets, and undertaking steps to democratize, including adopting a new constitution and holding regular presidential and legislative elections.

Speaking at the Doha Forum 2025 in Qatar, Radwan downplayed concerns over Ramallah’s autocratic regime, which has not held presidential elections since January 2005 or legislative elections since January 2006.

“The Palestinians have been reforming for the past 30 years,” Radwan claimed. “President Mahmoud Abbas had put a robust reform plan that he committed himself to, because this is good for the Palestinian.”

“Saudi Arabia, of course, is committed, and we work on a daily basis with the PA to help in its reform plan, but what we need to really get a sustainable peace and security and an end to this conflict and to implement President Trump’s 20-point peace plan and to implement the Security Council resolution is a reformed Israeli government.”

Radwan went on to accuse Israel’s government of promoting anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incitement, adding that Israel is not, in the opinion of Saudi leadership, “a partner for peace.”

“We have an Israeli government that opposes the two-state solution. We have an Israeli government that has officials continuously inciting against Palestinians, against Arabs, against Muslims.”

“We don’t see that we have a partner for peace, not even a partner for a sustainable ceasefire. So that is the actual and the important reform that we are hoping to see.”

Radwan’s comments are the latest in a series of critical remarks by Saudi officials regarding Israel.

A day earlier, Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal said during the Milken Institute’s Middle East and Africa Summit in Abu Dhabi that Israel is a “troublemaker” in the region, one which is oftentimes more problematic than Iran.

“Israel is feeling its oats by bombing Syria on almost a daily basis, continuing to bomb Palestinians — whether in Gaza or the West Bank and also in Lebanon, where there’s supposed to be a ceasefire,” Turki said.

“That is definitely not a harbinger of peace in our part of the world. In my view, it is Israel now that is the troublemaker and should be reined in.”