Trump Calls for Saudi-Israeli Military Cooperation Amid Yemen Crisis, Elections Complicate Prospects

US President Donald Trump recently called for Saudi Arabia to accept Israeli assistance against Yemen’s Houthis, suggesting that shared security threats could bring Riyadh and Jerusalem closer to normalization. However, ongoing attacks on Saudi infrastructure, Israel’s approaching election, and unresolved disagreements over Palestinian statehood continue to complicate the prospect of formal relations.

Asked on October 16 whether Saudi Arabia should accept Israeli help, Trump replied: “I do, I think they will. Israel’s been very helpful to Saudi Arabia.” He also suggested that Saudi-Israeli normalization could be back on the table, “maybe more than ever.” His comments did not establish whether Riyadh had requested Israeli military assistance or agreed to any overt security partnership.

Saudi Arabia is confronting an intensified campaign by the Iran-backed Houthis, whose missiles and drones have targeted airports, oil facilities, and shipping. An attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport killed 13 people, while repeated strikes have disrupted aviation and raised concerns about the kingdom’s ability to protect infrastructure central to its economic development plans.

For Riyadh, however, accepting Israeli military assistance would carry political consequences at home and throughout an Arab region deeply affected by the wars since October 7, 2023. “Since the Yemen war, there have been contacts with Israel. Israel wanted to assist with the Houthis, but the Saudis, because of public opinion, did not guarantee any open contact,” Dr. Yoel Guzansky, senior researcher and head of the Gulf Program at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), told The Media Line.

A September 30 incident illustrated the limits of cooperation. Following the emergency landing in Saudi Arabia of a flydubai aircraft bound for Israel after an attack in its cockpit, Riyadh refused an Israeli request to allow military aircraft to retrieve the Israeli passengers, according to Reuters. The passengers instead returned on another flydubai plane.

“Saudi Arabia did the minimum and didn’t want any normalization,” Guzansky said, referring to the refusal to permit Israeli aircraft to land.

Before the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, Saudi Arabia and Israel had been moving toward a possible US-brokered normalization agreement. The subsequent wars and destruction in Gaza have made the path to formal relations more difficult.

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