Saudi Prince al-Faisal in Rare Interview With Israeli Media: No Normalization Until Israel Behaves Like A ‘Normal Country’

Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal, said Sunday that Riyadh is not currently considering normalizing relations with Israel and would only revisit the issue if Israel begins acting like a “normal country.”

“Saudi Arabia is not considering a normalization deal with Israel. Should Israel become a normal country with normal acceptance of international law, then Saudi Arabia will consider normalization,” al-Faisal told The Times of Israel on Monday.

The remarks came in a highly unusual interview with Israeli media.

Al-Faisal, who has often spoken more sharply about Israel than serving Saudi officials, has nonetheless consistently reflected Riyadh’s official policy regarding potential relations with the Jewish state, according to the Times of Israel.

He headed Saudi Arabia’s General Intelligence Directorate from 1979 to 2001, later serving as ambassador to both the United Kingdom and the United States. Since retiring from government, he has remained active in international affairs and currently chairs the King Faisal Foundation’s Center for Research and Islamic Studies.

Despite Saudi Arabia’s longstanding policy of avoiding contact with Israeli outlets, al-Faisalagreed to respond to questions about the prospects for normalization between Riyadh and Jerusalem.

Clarifying what Saudi Arabia requires in order to establish relations, al-Faisal dismissed claims of mixed messaging between demands for a fully established Palestinian state and calls for merely a “pathway” to one.

“Realizing the two-state solution requires a serious and trusted pathway that leads to the end goal, which is a viable Palestinian state as envisioned by the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 and the vision of peace presented for a final settlement of this protracted conflict in that initiative,” he said.

He explained that normalization was always contingent on achieving a final agreement on the Palestinian issue. “Normalizing ties with Israel was conditioned by reaching that final and fair solution to the Palestinian cause. Therefore, Saudi statements on a ‘pathway’ mean the need for a reliable peaceful process that leads to [that] final solution,” he said, adding that such a process would require broad international and regional involvement, including Saudi Arabia.

Turki pointed to past efforts following the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, saying Saudi Arabia and other Arab states had engaged seriously at the time. “Alas, all went in vain. Israel was not ready to pay the price of peace. The man of peace in Israel at the time was assassinated and his partner from the Palestinian side was poisoned,” he said, referring to former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat.

Israel has long rejected claims that Arafat was poisoned, and multiple independent investigations failed to definitively determine that his 2004 death resulted from poisoning.

Arafat and Rabin died 10 years apart from one another. al-Faisal also neglected to mention the numerous overtures of peace offered to the Palestinians to create a state in years prior to and following 1991, all of which were rejected by the Palestinians. Israel also ceded the Gaza Strip in 2005, which became a hotbed of terrorism.

While the Trump administration has sought to move beyond past grievances and bring Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords framework, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman publicly tempered expectations during his White House meeting with President Donald Trump last month.

“We want to be part of the Abraham Accords, but we want also to be sure that [we] secure a clear path [toward a] two-state solution,” Ibn Salman said.

Saudi officials have since added conditions to that pathway, including that it be “time-bound” and “irreversible.”

“Unfortunately, with the ruling mentality in Israel nowadays, every step toward peace is reversible and not ‘time-bound,’” al-Faisal said, referring to the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He accused Israel of undermining trust through its actions across the region. “Israeli aggressive behavior in the region — in Gaza and the West Bank, in Syria, in Lebanon — reversing on the commitments to the ceasefire during Gaza war and reversing its verbal commitment to the Abraham Accords about not changing the status on the ground, and the statements on Biblical Greater Israel do not call for trust in Israel,” he said. Al-Faisal made no mention of the terrorism which led Israel to fight Hamas in Gaza or the daily rocket fire from Lebanon which eventually led to the 2024 war against Hezbollah.

Israel has defended its post-ceasefire strikes in Gaza as responses to Hamas violations and says its buffer zones in Syria and Lebanon are necessary for border security. Netanyahu agreed to freeze formal annexation plans in Yehudah and Shomron as part of the Abraham Accords with the UAE.

“Gaining trust requires Israel to conduct itself according to rules and norms of international law and the resolutions of the UN Security Council and abide by them,” al-Faisal said.

Asked whether Saudi Arabia risks straining ties with Washington by resisting normalization, al-Faisal insisted Riyadh would not be swayed by outside pressure.

“The Gulf kingdom bases its foreign policy on its own national interests, not according to the wishes and pressures of others,” he said.

He added that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had clearly articulated Saudi Arabia’s position in front of President Trump, claiming that Trump did not express anger over the stance. Channel 12, however, reported that Trump was “disappointed and angry” following a tense private exchange on the issue.

Al-Faisal also rejected assertions that Saudi Arabia had been close to normalizing relations before Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.

“All the speculation about normalization before Oct. 7 was out of wishful thinking on the part of mostly Israeli or American pro-Israeli sources,” he said. Inn Salman had, however, stated prior to the Oct. 7 massacre that Saudi Arabia advances on a “daily” basis towards normalization with Israel.

“However, Saudi Arabia is always ready to talk about peace in the Middle East and its requirements. Saudi Arabia’s position is no normalization without a peaceful resolution to the Palestinian issue that entails the two-state solution,” he reiterated.

Responding to suggestions that weakening Iran and its proxies might make normalization strategically appealing, al-Faisal dismissed the idea.

He also rejected claims that the Palestinian Authority is the primary obstacle to peace, arguing that Israel bears responsibility for its failures.