Poll shows Saudi population less hostile to Israel

Dore Gold, the incoming director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, and Anwar Majed Eshki, a retired Saudi general close to the current government, stood together at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in Washington on Thursday to acknowledge what has been widely suspected for some time, that their two governments have been working together on intelligence and other efforts to confront the shared threat from Iran’s renegade nuclear program and support for terrorism in the Middle East. “Our standing today on this stage does not mean we have resolved all the differences that our countries have shared over the years,” Gold said, adding “But our hope is we will be able to address them fully in the years ahead.” The announcement came as an opinion poll was released this week by the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, showing among other things that most Saudis regard Iran and the Islamic State terror militia to be far bigger problems than Israel.

The poll also showed widespread support in Saudi Arabia for the so-called “Arab Peace initiative” originally proposed by Saudi Arabia which would grant Israel full diplomatic relations in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian State.

“What we think here in Israel about the Saudis is not exactly what they are,” said Alex Mintz, who heads the IDC’s Institute for Policy and Strategy and oversaw the survey. “There is a great identity of interests and threats and agendas … some would even like to join forces with Israel…This is really a Sunni-Shiite divide and it has nothing to do with Israel and their focus has shifted. There is a commonality of interests between Saudi Arabia and Israel right now that the Israeli government should take advantage of and capitalize because it is unique in the history of the two states.”
Here is a video showing a recent expert panel discussing developments in Saudi Arabia

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