World
Herzog tells Saudi TV he dreams of peace with Riyadh, ‘heart aches’ for innocent Gazans
President Isaac Herzog sat down in his Jerusalem office for an interview with the Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya TV station, which aired Thursday evening, telling the outlet that is his dream to see peace between the two countries. He also expressed pain at the death toll in the war in Gaza, saying his heart breaks for civilians killed in the conflict.
“I have great respect for Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman,” Herzog said of the Saudi leader. “The thing that we want most in Israel is to see rapprochement between the nations.”
He said he hopes to “meet the Saudi Arabian leadership officially in due course.”
“It is my dream to see peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia,” the Israeli president said, noting that the two nations should negotiate directly “with the support from the United States.”
In 2023, Saudi Arabia was engaged in tentative talks on normalization, but it abruptly pulled out as the war in Gaza erupted following the Hamas-led terror invasion of southern Israel on October 7. Saudi officials have repeatedly said they will not recognize Israel without a path to an independent Palestinian state, which Israel’s current government opposes.
“I believe we are at a moment of dialogue between Jerusalem and Mecca,” Herzog said. “I believe that there is a moment of dialogue between people of all faiths in the region, and I’m trying to pursue it in my own way.”
In addition to normalizing ties with Riyadh, Herzog said he would love for Israel to forge peace deals with both Lebanon and Syria. Jerusalem and Beirut have been engaged in historic direct talks aimed at ending ongoing fighting, while Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has indicated openness to relations, though tensions remain over Israeli troops in Syrian territory.
“It is my dream to take a car and drive to Beirut. It is my dream to go to Damascus,” he said. “We believe the region should move to peace, not to an arms race of swords and threats and so forth.”
Israel’s next big objective “should be peace with Syria, peace with Lebanon… and not tilting the balance towards all sorts of elements that may divert and kind of change the equation in this region in the equilibrium, which is quite sensitive.”
Turning to the wider regional conflict, Herzog said he is “not surprised” that the US-Iran memorandum of understanding on ending fighting signed last month has since broken down, given Iran’s behavior in the past.
“It’s impossible to do deals” with Iran, he said. “They violate all the time. They have their own way of interpreting things that are very, very clear.”
At the same time, he said, he trusts US President Donald Trump fully, and believes in a diplomatic solution to the conflict, but “we had legitimate concerns, we raised them, and now you see it in front of your eyes with the Iranian behavior.”
“I respect President Donald Trump, and I respect Vice President JD Vance,” Herzog stressed, after Vance this week blamed Israel for trying to undermine talks with Iran, adding that he is “happy that the US reaction [to Iranian violations] is firm and clear.”
Herzog also said that his “heart aches” for every innocent Palestinian civilian who is killed, “because this is not our aim or desire in any way.”
He said that the people of Gaza “deserve a good life. We want a good life for them.”
