GOP House chair pushing for U.S., Saudi, Israel deal in trip next month

The top Republican with oversight of foreign affairs will travel to Saudi Arabia next month to push forward a deal to establish ties with Israel and Saudi Arabia that was upended in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he’ll be traveling to Saudi Arabia in March for discussions on U.S. security agreements with Saudi Arabia that would pave the way for Riyadh to normalize relations with Israel.

“I’ll be traveling to Saudi in March to discuss the security agreement that’s possible with the Saudis, and Israel and the United States,” McCaul said during a discussion Friday morning hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

The administration, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle in Congress believe following through on normalizing ties between Riyadh and Israel could help lead to an end to Israel’s war in Gaza and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“I know that the Saudis are interested in getting this done as soon as possible. In fact I think there will be a draft document prior to my trip in March, which makes the timing very critical,” McCaul said.

As part of a deal to open ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia has asked for military commitments from the U.S.

This includes the signing of a mutual defense pact; ensuring U.S. weapons sales to Saudi Arabia; and for the U.S. to approve and provide assistance to Saudi Arabia for a civil-nuclear power program.

It’s not clear if the U.S. will agree on all of these measures. Some lawmakers have raised concern over having a mutual defense pact with the country, guaranteeing weapons sales to a kingdom accused of human rights abuses, and whether a civil nuclear program could be weaponized.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state, but McCaul said there’s flexibility in his position, given the benefits that would come from ties with Saudi Arabia. 

“You could go down as a wartime [prime minister] or you could go down as [prime minister] who finally, brought peace to the Middle East. And there’s a real possibility if you have the Saudis sign up — which, no one ever thought this would happen — and then the Muslim nations would follow suit with Israel. That isolates Hamas, and it isolates Iran, and it provides the best conditions for peace,” McCaul said.

“The only thing the Saudis want out of that is a way to allow the Palestinian people to self-govern in that territory [of West Bank and Gaza].”