This week on Word on the Street Live, we dug into Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s high-stakes visit to Washington – his first since 2018 – and what it reveals about the future of the US-Saudi relationship in the shadow of the war in Gaza.
I was joined by Daniel Benaim, who helped lead US engagement with the Saudis during the Biden Administration.
We discussed:
What was – and wasn’t – accomplished during the visit. Trump gave MBS full head-of-state treatment, but there was no real progress on Saudi-Israel normalization. As Dan emphasized, Israel simply isn’t prepared to say what the Saudis need to hear – especially on Palestinian statehood.
MBS’s complicated domestic and global image. For young Saudis, MBS has opened up society – social freedoms, expanded roles for women, cultural transformation – all while remaining firmly authoritarian. And the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Dan noted, will never be erased from US-Saudi relations.
How Gaza reshaped Saudi politics. Saudi leaders initially expected the Gaza war to be short, like previous rounds. Instead, the war triggered an intense, visceral public response. Young Saudis mobilized around Gaza in ways their government could not ignore – and the leadership became far more outspoken as a result.
A rich conversation about a relationship that will likely shape Middle East politics for decades – and one that Washington can neither ignore nor approach blindly.
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