Israeli opposition calls US-Saudi nuclear deal Netanyahu’s ‘catastrophic failure’

Israeli opposition leaders have criticised a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement signed between the US and Saudi Arabia, describing it as a “major failure” for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The US Energy Department announced on Wednesday that Washington and Riyadh had signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement.

In a statement, the department said US Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman signed the agreement, commonly known as a 123 Agreement.

It said the deal represents an important step in strengthening peaceful nuclear cooperation between Washington and Riyadh and will be submitted to the US Congress for review under established procedures before entering into force.

Following the announcement, Israeli opposition leaders accused Netanyahu’s government on Thursday of failing to prevent the agreement.

“This agreement is a massive diplomatic failure for our government,” former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the opposition Together party, told Israel’s public broadcaster KAN.

“The agreement was reached without our knowledge, and we are being excluded because we are not an active party in the negotiations between the United States and Iran,” he added.

‘Major failure’

Former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the opposition Yisrael Beiteinu party, also described the agreement as a “major and catastrophic failure” for Netanyahu, saying the prime minister had long highlighted his command of English and familiarity with the US administration.

“The agreement pushes the entire Middle East into a nuclear arms race,” Lieberman told Israel’s 103 FM radio.

He said allowing uranium enrichment on Saudi territory without normalisation between Riyadh and Israel represented an “accumulated failure” by the Israeli government.