US envoy touts ‘potential’ of Israel-Saudi deal in Netanyahu talks

TEL AVIV: US President Joe Biden’s national security advisor briefed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the “potential” of a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia after holding talks in the region, the White House said Sunday.
Jake Sullivan also called on Netanyahu to match Israel’s military operation against the Hamas militant group in Gaza with a “political strategy” for the future of the Palestinian enclave, it said in a readout of the talks.
Earlier, an Israeli strike killed 31 people in central Gaza Sunday, the Palestinian territory’s civil defense agency said, as US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan visited for talks on the conflict.
Israel’s military, which on Sunday reported its aircraft had “struck dozens of terror targets” over the past 24 hours, said it was checking the reports.
Witness Yasser Abu Oula told AFP an entire residential complex “was destroyed” and “there are still bodies under the rubble”.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting Hamas in Gaza, following its October 7 attack that sparked the war, until the Iran-backed Islamist group is defeated and all remaining hostages are released.
But he has faced intense opposition and calls to announce a plan for Gaza’s post-war governance — from top ally Washington, from mass street protests, and now also from members of his war cabinet.
Centrist politician Benny Gantz threatened Saturday to quit the governing hard-right coalition unless Netanyahu approves a post-war “action plan” by June 8.
In the United States, President Joe Biden said Sunday he heard the voice of Gaza war protesters as some students turned their backs on his graduation ceremony speech at the former university of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.
A small number of graduates carried out the silent protest, with some holding Palestinian flags and one holding up a fist as Biden spoke at Morehouse College, a historically Black university in Atlanta, Georgia.
Others wore keffiyeh scarves over their gowns in a sign of solidarity with the protests that have roiled campuses across the United States over Israel’s offensive on Gaza after the Hamas October 7 attacks.
“I support peaceful, non-violent protest. Your voices should be heard, and I promise you I hear them,” said Biden, who wore a maroon and black gown in the colors of the all-male university.
The speech was Biden’s most direct encounter with US students since the Gaza protests engulfed campuses nationwide, causing him political troubles with an election rematch against Donald Trump just over six months away.
“This is one of the hardest, most complicated problems in the world. There’s nothing easy about it,” added Biden about Gaza.
“I know it angers and frustrates many of you, including my family, but most of all, I know it breaks your heart. It breaks mine as well.”
He did not elaborate, but First Lady Jill Biden reportedly urged the president in April to “stop it now” as the toll of Palestinian civilians mounted from Israel’s offensive.
A number of Morehouse students had called for Biden’s speech to be canceled over the Gaza war but the ceremony went ahead without disruption.
Biden told the students that Gaza was enduring a “humanitarian crisis” and that he was working for an “immediate ceasefire to stop the fighting, bring the hostages home.”
The 81-year-old Democrat added that he was pushing for a “lasting, durable peace” in the wider Middle East that would lead to an independent Palestinian state, which he called the “only solution.”
Biden had earlier applauded as the college’s valedictorian, DeAngelo Jeremiah Fletcher, also called for an immediate ceasefire in his own speech.
“It is important to recognize both sides have suffered heavy casualties since October 7,” said Fletcher.
Morehouse College president David Thomas — who had earlier this week threatened to shut down the ceremony if it was disrupted — told Biden after the speech that “you’ve been listening.”
“You spoke to the hard issues confronting our nation and the world at this moment,” said Thomas.
The speech at the alma mater of rights hero King was part of a series of Biden events this week aimed at winning over Black voters, amid polls showing that their support for him is flagging.
Biden did not specifically mention his rival Donald Trump but leaned heavily into themes of democracy and racism that he has previously invoked while talking about the twice-impeached Republican former president.
“This is what we’re up against — extremist forces aligned against the meaning and message of Morehouse,” said Biden.
His outreach efforts to Black voters and Gaza protesters were two sides of the same coin as Biden tries to shore up support among the coalition that helped him beat Trump in 2020.
Later Sunday Biden traveled to Detroit in the key swing state of Michigan where he visited a cafe owned by two former NBA players, brothers Joe and Jordan Crawford.
“The guy we’re running against wants to back up all the progress we made,” Biden said.
A New York Times/Siena poll last week showed that, in addition to trailing Trump in several key battleground states, Biden is also losing ground with African Americans.
Trump is winning more than 20 percent of Black voters in the poll — which would be the highest level of Black support for a Republican presidential candidate since the Civil Rights Act was enacted in 1964, it said.