How Netanyahu aides, Mossad chiefs steer normalization

Since the Abraham Accords were signed in Washington by Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, and later by Sudan and Morocco, talk has run wild about a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia. But, though the Israeli prime minister at the helm remains the same the people that close normalization deals have slightly shifted, and so have some tensions between them.

Though there is no official talk of a deal, here is an explanation of why, in terms of the Israeli team, it might work better in 2024 than it did in 2020, sources have told The Jerusalem Post.

Strategic Affairs Minister (and long-time personal confidante of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) Ron Dermer is publicly running the US track of the negotiations, which, if they get to the point of documents and wording, will continue to lead that side of things.

There are few Israelis who can match Dermer’s familiarity with the complexities of American politics and the ability to rally support in Washington, while also being trusted by Netanyahu.

On the flip side, Mossad Director David Barnea played a key role in maintaining the respect for and the desire and vision for a deal, both in Riyadh and in Washington.

Barnea has, numerous times, “held the hand” of foreign officials to keep the larger reasons to sign a deal in sight: common national interests, especially following provocative moves and statements by some coalition members, in Israel’s most far-right government.

The year 2023 contained most of those tensions, particularly over a rise in violence in the West Bank, and especially after October 7.

In May 2022, the censor even finally permitted publicly revealing the long known secret that Mossad chiefs like

Yossi Cohen and Tamir Pardo had met with Saudi Arabia’s rulers.

National Security Council Chief Tzachi Hanegbi is also coordinating, and is in the loop with Netanyahu, even if he may not have as large a leading role as Dermer and Barnea. In addition, on certain issues the Foreign Ministry holds a key role.

Some of the differences between the Mossad officials

and Netanyahu’s advisers relate to the idea of “surfacing.” Surfacing relations into the public sphere is, at its core, a public event, something that is usually supposed to be anathema to the Mossad, which operates in the shadows.