President Donald Trump arrives with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for a group photo with Gulf Cooperation Council leaders during the GCC Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Such a move could also threaten the Abraham Accords, Israel’s normalization agreements with several Arab states.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Saudi Arabia has warned Israel that annexing any part of Judea and Samaria would carry “major implications in all fields,” Israeli media reported Sunday.
The warning coincided with a wave of new recognitions of a Palestinian state, with Portugal, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia all declaring support within the same day.
Riyadh did not specify what measures it might take, but Israeli officials believe normalization talks could collapse and Saudi airspace, first opened in 2022, could once again be closed to Israeli flights.
Such a move could also threaten the Abraham Accords, Israel’s normalization agreements with several Arab states.
Sources close to US President Donald Trump signaled that Washington does not favor annexation. “It’s the last thing they need,” one source said, citing already heightened tensions following Israel’s September 9 strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar.
Saudi officials are expected to meet Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly this week, alongside leaders from the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, and Turkey, to discuss the war in Gaza and postwar scenarios.
Trump will also hold a separate session with Gulf leaders focused on the Qatar strike.
In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened ministers to discuss how Israel should respond to the surge of international recognition.
Options included reclassifying parts of Judea and Samaria to expand Israeli authority and closing consulates of states that back a Palestinian state, particularly France.
Netanyahu, together with Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, stressed the need for close coordination with Washington. “No decision will be made until after my meeting with President Trump next week,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.
European diplomats urged restraint, warning that annexation would be seen as “collective punishment” and could jeopardize existing regional agreements. “We will not take annexation lying down,” one senior European official told Israel.
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