The U.S. delegation is headed by State Department Counselor Daniel Haller and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

By JNS

Israel and the United States have begun formal talks on a new bilateral defense framework to replace the current 10-year security assistance Memorandum of Understanding, which is set to expire in 2028, Israel’s Defense Ministry said on Friday.

The negotiations, launched in coordination with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, aim to deepen security cooperation and shift toward a full mutual partnership, including expanded joint research, development and production.

Defense Ministry Director General Maj. Gen. (res.) Amir Baram is leading the Israeli team, working closely with Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter.

The U.S. delegation is headed by State Department Counselor Daniel Haller and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

Officials from both countries held a kickoff meeting last week, with additional rounds of talks planned in Israel and the United States in the coming weeks.

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The bill comes at a pivotal juncture for Arab nations in the Middle East, many of which have faced a barrage of attacks from Iran during the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

By Adam Kredo, The Washington Free Beacon

Sens. Ted Budd (R., N.C.) and Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) introduced legislation on Thursday that would significantly boost defense cooperation between signatories of the historic Abraham Accords agreement as the Islamic Republic lashes out at its Arab neighbors, according to a copy of the bill shared with the Washington Free Beacon.

The Abraham Accords Defense Cooperation Act, which the two Senate Armed Services Committee members hope to include in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), instructs the Pentagon to begin implementing defense and intelligence-sharing plans with the countries that have normalized relations with Israel since the treaty was first signed in 2020.

Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates joined the pact with Israel in September 2020, while Morocco signed on in December of that year and Sudan followed the next month. Kazakhstan announced in November that it would become the fifth Muslim-majority country to enter the agreement.

Along with the United States and Israel, the nations will enhance “regional planning and cooperation among the military forces” with a specific focus on “counter-unmanned aircraft system capabilities,” “ground-based air defenses,” and “special operations forces development,” according to the bill.

The defense initiative would authorize funding for the nations to work together on an assortment of “long-term regional projects” that include intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance missions, and other tactical operations meant to deter “aggression by Iran and its proxies in the Middle East.”

The measure would also enable joint air and naval exercises between Abraham Accords signatories.

Should the text make its way into this year’s NDAA, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth will have 60 days to provide the Senate Armed Services Committee with a plan for meeting the objectives and a budget request for doing so.

The bill comes at a pivotal juncture for Arab nations in the Middle East, many of which have faced a barrage of attacks from Iran during the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

The defense provisions included in the legislation specifically seek to combat the types of weaponry Tehran has used against Gulf states in recent weeks.

The Iranian regime has fired more than 2,000 drones and missiles at the United Arab Emirates since February 28, and more than 80 percent of those strikes have targeted civilian infrastructure.

“Many of our Arab allies in the Middle East, such as Bahrain and the UAE, signatories of the Abraham Accords, remain in the crosshairs of Iranian missiles and drones,” Budd said.

“By bolstering defense cooperation among Abraham Accords countries, we can strengthen regional partnerships and fortify deterrence against Iranian aggression.”

Both Budd and Ernst say increased defense coordination with Abraham Accords members could “potentially encourage additional Arab nations to join the Accords” as they seek protection from the Islamic Republic, according to a summary of the bill that the senators’ offices have circulated on Capitol Hill.

One potential addition is Saudi Arabia, which has expressed interest in diplomatic normalization with Israel in the past and has forcefully supported the U.S.-Israeli campaign against the Iranian regime.

A spokesperson for Budd told the Free Beacon the senator is confident that the immediate danger the Islamic Republic poses to U.S. interests and partners in the Middle East means the legislation will have broad bipartisan support.

“Sen. Budd plans to make a push to include this legislation in the NDAA as a provision in the base text, or as an amendment,” the spokesperson said.

“Given the significant threat to U.S. military personnel and to our partners in the region, Sen. Budd is confident that his Democratic colleagues will agree that this partnership would benefit America, Israel, and the other countries part of the Abraham Accords.”

Both parties have backed the Abraham Accords since President Donald Trump unveiled the agreement during his first term, with Congress creating a special envoy for the accords in 2023.

The House of Representatives reestablished its bipartisan Abraham Accords Caucus in February 2025, providing a natural base of support for the Budd-Ernst measure, while Ernst herself co-chairs the Senate’s version of the caucus.

“As co-chair of the bipartisan Abraham Accords Caucus, I have been proud to build upon the success of the Accords through my DEFEND Act and now through the Abraham Accords Defense Cooperation act to unite our partners against Iran-backed terror,” Ernst said.

“When our partners are prepared to deter the Iranian regime and its proxies, our world and homeland are safer.”

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Agreement coincides with a $3.1b contract to expand Germany’s new IAI-made Arrow 3 missile defense system.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt signed a joint declaration Sunday formalizing expanded cooperation in cybersecurity and other defense arenas.

“The declaration signed today anchors deep cooperation with Germany in the fields of cyber defense, counterterrorism and advanced technologies and translates security commitment into joint action,” Netanyahu said.

The prime minister specifically referred to the threat of Iran and its terror proxies – Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis – which “threaten not only Israel but regional stability and international security.”

The agreement covers collaboration in artificial intelligence and drone defense. Cybercrime will be an additional field where the two allies will enhance their cooperation.

Calling Berlin a “natural partner” for Jerusalem, Netanyahu said that the pact “elevated bilateral security and technological cooperation to a new strategic level.”

Cybersecurity was an especially important arena, he said, as it is “one of the main threats to our internal security, and in many ways also our infrastructure and other threats.”

As the two men used pens to sign the pact in front of the cameras, Netanyahu quipped, “It’s amazing in the age of cyber that we still do this.”

The enhanced cooperation will benefit Germany greatly, according to Dobrindt.

“We have a strong interest in learning how Israel built its Cyberdome,” he said. “We want to benefit from their experience and know-how.”

The agreement comes as Germany continues to significantly increase its defense spending amid heightened concerns over Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, which Berlin views as a renewed threat to European security.

In that context, Berlin separately signed Sunday a $3.1 billion contract with state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) that will greatly expand the number of interceptors and launchers for the Arrow 3 system that Germany newly installed last month.

“The Arrow 3 contract expansion represents another significant milestone in our deepening strategic partnership with Germany, our key European ally,” said Defense Ministry Director-General Amir Baram.

Germany’s original $3.5 billion purchase made it the first country outside Israel to acquire the Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile defense system.

Israeli officials noted at the time the historic significance of the Jewish state now helping to protect German skies, 80 years after the Holocaust.

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Riyadh’s pact with Islamabad is being read across the region as a hedge and a message: Saudi deterrence won’t rest on Washington alone.

By Jewish Breaking News

Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan have inked a Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement that explicitly declares any attack on one will be treated as an attack on both—confirmed in a joint statement and by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.

The deal formalizes years of quiet security coordination and elevates it to a NATO-style commitment between Riyadh and Islamabad.

The timing is combustible: it follows Israel’s precision strike in Doha targeting Hamas terror leaders—an operation that rattled Gulf capitals and spotlighted how far Jerusalem is willing to pursue the group’s external command network.

Riyadh’s pact with Islamabad is being read across the region as a hedge and a message: Saudi deterrence won’t rest on Washington alone.

India is watching closely. New Delhi says it’s studying the implications and will “protect national interests,” even as Pakistan’s long-running defense ties with Türkiye—warship and helicopter deals, joint drills—remain a factor in South Asia’s balance.

For Israel, that triangle matters: India is a key strategic partner, while Pakistan’s camp gains fresh political cover from the Gulf’s heavyweight.

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There are not enough days left in the Congressional calendar to hold the necessary hearings and approve a treaty, even if all sides were in agreement.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Time has run out for an Israel-Saudi-U.S. deal before the November presidential elections, The Times of Israel reported Thursday.

The basic tripartite agreement was that in return for Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with the Jewish state, the U.S. would ink a mutual defense pact with the Gulf kingdom.

The news outlet cited two unnamed sources, a Democratic lawmaker and a senior Republican Senate aide, as saying that there are not enough days left in the Congressional calendar to hold the necessary hearings and obtain the required legislative ratification for such a formal security alliance.

Between the summer recess and the break taken from September 27 until the national vote, there are less than four weeks of work left in the Capitol.

Even if the Senate is successfully convened during recess, the two sources said that there were not enough Republicans who would back the treaty to push it through.

According to the U.S. Constitution, treaties must be approved by two-thirds of the upper body of Congress.

There are currently 47 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and four Independents who usually caucus with the Democrats in the Senate.

Handing such a huge victory to political opponents right before elections is not something that party faithful are known for.

It is also questionable whether an agreement could even be reached soon, although American officials said in June that they were “close” to a potential treaty.

While up to September 2023, Riyadh had been content to leave a Palestinian state off its list of demands, this changed following the outbreak of the Israel- Hamas war on October 7, sparked by the terrorists’ invasion and massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel.

Now the Saudis are insisting that such a state “on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital” is a pre-requisite for any diplomatic relations, as is the complete withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza and the cessation of all hostilities.

Riyadh has also increased its criticism of Israel’s handling of the war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated his opposition to “rewarding” Palestinian terrorism with a state, and a large majority of the Israeli public agrees with this position.

He has also held firm to the red line that Israel must retain security control of the Gaza Strip in order to ensure that a repeat invasion could never recur in the future.

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The Biden administration has been pushing for a defense deal with the Saudis that includes Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords.

By Joshua Marks, JNS

The White House reiterated on Saturday that any Saudi-U.S. defense agreement would include Israel normalization, against the backdrop of a report last week that the two issues could be decoupled.

Speaking at the Financial Times Weekend Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told FT journalist Edward Luce that “you can’t disentangle one piece from the others.”

The question was asked after a report in The Guardian on May 1 that Riyadh was pushing for a “plan B” bilateral defense deal that sidelines establishing diplomatic relations with Jerusalem should a Gaza ceasefire not be concluded and the Netanyahu government not commit to a pathway to a Palestinian state.

Jerusalem is preparing for a major military offensive in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah should Hamas reject the latest truce proposal.

Palestinian statehood is opposed by a majority of the Israeli public and by the government, given Ramallah’s support for terrorism.

The Biden administration has been pushing for a defense deal with the Saudis that includes Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords.

The president’s team has also consistently emphasized the importance of concessions to the Palestinians as part of any pact.

The Saudis froze Israeli normalization talks after the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7 and the ensuing war in Gaza, but have maintained that they are still open to a deal.

Conflicting reports have emerged from the kingdom on the importance of the Palestinian issue to securing an agreement, although official statements from Washington and Riyadh have stressed that it is essential.

“The integrated vision is a bilateral understanding between the United States and Saudi Arabia combined with normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, combined with meaningful steps on behalf of the Palestinian people,” Sullivan said. “All of that has to come together…you can’t disentangle one piece from the others.”

Sullivan’s remarks follow similar comments by State Department spokesman Matthew Miller at a press briefing in Washington on May 2 that any security pact between the United States and Saudi Arabia would be contingent on a normalization agreement between Riyadh and Jerusalem.

“In the potential normalization agreement that we were talking about with Saudi Arabia, there are several components,” Miller said. “One component is a package of agreements between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Another component is normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. And another package would be a path to two states for the Palestinian people.”

“All of them are linked together,” Miller added. “None go forward without the others.”

U.S. President Joe Biden has dispatched his diplomatic arsenal to the Middle East region several times since the Oct. 7 attack to attempt to calm the flames and also to push for the vision of a more integrated region with increased normalization between Israel and its neighbors, with the Saudis as the centerpiece of that plan.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week made his seventh trip to the Middle East since Oct. 7 to meet with Israeli and Arab leaders, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, notably saying that the U.S.-Saudi part of the package is “potentially very close to completion” and adding that the most significant obstacle to normalization is the path to a two-state solution and the lack of a ceasefire in Gaza.

However, Saudi Arabia has already decided to normalize relations with Israel and is debating the timing of the announcement, according to a report last week in Haaretz, citing a foreign diplomat familiar with the details.

“The question is when, and the decision on the timing should be made within days,” the diplomat said.

The source said that the kingdom would only demand guarantees on progress towards achieving a pathway to Palestinian statehood in return for establishing diplomatic ties with Jerusalem.

Then-Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said last August that the Palestinian issue was not a major obstacle for MBS to reaching a detente with Jerusalem.

Sullivan on Saturday also added that Biden intends to give a more detailed vision of the pathway to a more peaceful Middle East region.

“I do expect in the months ahead that you will hear from the president and others of us more of the … path that we believe could produce a more secure Israel and a more peaceful region,” Sullivan said.

He added: “All we can do is work out what we think makes sense, [and] try to get as many countries in the region on board with it and then present it, and it will ultimately be up to the Israeli leadership and frankly ultimately the Israeli people can decide whether that’s a path they want to take or not.”

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A total of 55.6% of the Israeli public are against linking Palestinian statehood to a regional defense pact.

By Joshua Marks, JNS

A majority of Israelis oppose agreeing in principle to the future establishment of a Palestinian state in exchange for a permanent regional defense agreement, according to the 15th “War in Gaza” survey published by the Israel Democracy Institute on Sunday.

The question was asked about a Palestinian state against the backdrop of the United States, Saudi Arabia and Jordan helping to fend off the massive Iranian drone and missile assault on Israel on April 13.

In addition, the Biden administration is pushing for a pathway to a Palestinian state as part of a normalization agreement between Riyadh and Jerusalem. It would include a defense package and security guarantees.

A total of 55.6% of the Israeli public are against linking Palestinian statehood to a regional defense pact (37.2% certainly against and 18.4% think it should not be).

Among Israeli Jews, the proportion of certain respondents against a Palestinian state rises to 44.2% with 19.5% saying they think it should not be agreed to, for a total of 63.7% against.

In contrast, a large majority of Arab Israelis in general (74%) and Israeli Jews identifying with the political left (69%) say they support such an arrangement, while only 32% of Israeli Jews in the center and 14.5% on the right support this sort of deal.

The survey was carried out after Iran’s April 13 missile and drone attack on Israel and before the April 19 retaliatory strike on the Islamic Republic attributed to Jerusalem.

Tehran said that its aerial assault was in revenge for the April 1 killing of a top Quds Force commander in Damascus that the regime blamed on the Jewish state.

An overwhelming 80% majority of Jewish Israeli respondents said that killing the Iranian commander in Damascus was the correct move despite the military response from the mullah regime.

Among Arab Israelis, 67% think it was the wrong course of action, while 45% of Israeli Jews on the left took this stance, underscoring the deep divide between Arabs and left-wing Jews, and the rest of Israeli society (77% of Israeli Jews in the center and 90.5% on the right support the strike).

One area where Israeli Jews and Arabs agree is that after more than six months of war and the exit of most ground forces from Gaza, it is time for those in positions of power responsible for the failure to prevent the Hamas-led invasion of the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7 to resign.

Nearly 62% of the general public are certain or think that the time has come for resignation letters to be submitted.

(On Monday, Israel Defense Forces Military Intelligence Directorate head Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva announced his departure.)

Broken down by ethnicity, 81% of Arabs and 58% of Jews believe that it is time for resignations, while the ideological picture draws a line between Jews on the left and center whose support for resignations reaches above 80%, versus Jews on the political right with only 44% holding the view that those in power on Oct. 7 should resign now.

The phone and internet survey of 612 men and women above the age of 18 (514 in Hebrew and 98 in Arabic) was conducted from April 14 to 17. The maximum sampling error was ±4.04% with a confidence level of 95%.

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