Debating Saudi-Israeli Normalization: Does it Advance U.S. Interest?

The Biden administration has launched a complex initiative to normalize Saudi-Israeli relations and impose distance between Saudi Arabia and China, reportedly in exchange for U.S. assistance to a Saudi nuclear program and security assurances that could entail the U.S. military defending the Saudi kingdom.  Although the basic elements of this ambitious gambit are clear, little is known about the all important details or the long term implications for U.S. interests.

QI has assembled a panel to assess the administration’s objectives, Saudi and Israeli interest in a deal, the domestic political factors in all three participating states, the potential nature of a U.S. security guarantee, Saudi fuel enrichment in the context of U.S. nuclear assistance, and the degree to which normalization would change the Middle East or reflect changes that have already taken place.
September 2023

20
12:00 PM EDT
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Join us for a timely and important discussion with:

Trita Parsi

Trita Parsi is executive vice president at the Quincy Institute. He is an award-winning author and the 2010 recipient of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. Parsi is an expert on US-Iranian relations, Iranian foreign politics, and the geopolitics of the Middle East. He is the co-founder and former President of the National Iranian American Council.

F. Gregory Gause

F. Gregory Gause, III is Professor of International Affairs and John H. Lindsey ’44 Chair at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University. He is the author of three books, including his most recent, "The International Relations of the Persian Gulf" (Cambridge University Press, 2010).

Ellen Laipson

Ellen Laipson is the director of the Master's in International Security degree program at the Center for Security Policy Studies in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. She joined Mason after a distinguished 25-year career in government — including as Vice Chair of the National Intelligence Council (NIC) from 1997-2002.

Steven Simon (Moderator)

Steven Simon is Senior Research Analyst at the Quincy Institute and the Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at the MIT Centre for International Studies. From 2011 to 2012, he served on the National Security Council staff as senior director for Middle Eastern and North African affairs. His most recent book, Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East, was published this spring.
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