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Saudi Arabia ‘is ready to sign Abraham Accords’, former Mossad chief claims
Yossi Cohen has told the JC the Saudis will join other Arab countries in normalising relationships with Israel once the war is over
September 29, 2025 14:56
Yossi Cohen has told the JC the Saudis will join other Arab countries in normalising relationships with Israel once the war is over
September 29, 2025 14:56After the Gaza war, Saudi Arabia will be “ready to sign” the Abraham Accords, joining the Arab countries that have normalised diplomatic relationships with Israel, the former head of Mossad asserted at a JC event to launch his book, The Sword of Freedom (published by Broadside Books).
Yossi Cohen, who served as the director of the Israeli intelligence agency from 2016 to 2021, hit out at the UK for “forgetting” many terror plots on British soil foiled by Mossad, and abandoning Israel by deciding to recognise a Palestinian state, leaving the Jewish state vulnerable to further attacks.
Speaking to JC editor Daniel Schwammenthal in front of an audience at a north London shul on Sunday, Cohen, who was a key negotiator helping to secure the 2020 Abraham Accords agreement, said: “Saudi Arabia is looking for something from America before signing an agreement with us.
“They want a guarantee with the US that if worse comes to worst [due to signing] it will not leave them disadvantaged.
“We need some guarantees ... but it will happen. I know that it will because the Saudi side are ready to go. They are ready to sign it.”
During the Abraham Accords negotiations, Cohen focused on the Iranian threat and the need for US guarantees to ensure the security of the signatories. He later stressed that “the Iranian threat to the UAE is greater than that towards Israel”.
Speaking on Sunday he stressed that Saudi Arabia needs the US guarantee “to make sure that it doesn’t suffer a retaliation from Iran”.
He added: “Thank God now with Trump and his willingness ... he will give [Saudi Arabia] what it needs to guarantee its safety, and he will give us what we need to guarantee ours.”
Turning to Israel-UK relations, Cohen cited “dozens” of times Israeli intelligence has thwarted terrorist plots in Britain.
“Dozens of alerts were provided,” Cohen said. “Not connected to Israel or the Jewish community ... [just] British life.”
But, pointing to the increasingly strained relationship between the two countries, he said that, as far as Israel was concerned “it probably has been forgotten” by Britain.
In his book, Cohen quotes former head of MI5, Sir Andrew Parker, who told him: “We do not give out Oscars in intelligence, but if we did, you would deserve one be – cause you have disrupted so many terrorist operations in the UK. You did so for the British people, and not for the sake of the state of Israel. That will not be forgotten.”
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