President Joe Biden said Friday he thought Hamas was motivated to attack Israel in part by a desire to stop that country from normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia.

“One of the reasons … why Hamas moved on Israel, is because they knew I was about to sit down with the Saudis,” Biden said at a campaign fundraiser. The U.S. president indicated that he thinks Hamas militants launched a deadly assault on Oct. 7 because, “Guess what? The Saudis wanted to recognize Israel” and were near being able to formally do so.

Jerusalem and Riyadh had been steadily inching closer to normalization, with Biden working to help bring the two countries together, announcing plans in September at the Group of 20 summit in India to partner on a shipping corridor.

    • Reality Suit@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      Are you talking about the country where the majority of 9/11 terrorists came from? That saudi arabia? Or are you talking about their progressive attitude towards women’s rights? I bet you’re talking about saudi arabia’s support of free speech through example of their recognition of the works of Jamal Khashoggi

    • Astroturfed@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Are you saying that the the Nazis having an alliance with the USSR didn’t make both of them good guys? There’s no way they had leaders systematically murdering and imprisoning people, they made friendzies.