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Trump’s Saudi Nuclear Pact Is the Latest Sign That Israel’s U.S. Support Is Tanking

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President Donald Trump has agreed to supply Saudi Arabia with nuclear-energy technology, a dream that the kingdom’s royal family has desired for many years, and—more swooning still—the deal doesn’t require the Saudis to make any promises or concessions in return.

The Biden administration held talks on a similar arrangement but demanded as a condition that the Saudis normalize relations with Israel. The Saudis would agree to that only if Israel resumed negotiations toward a separate state for Palestinians. Israel would not agree to that, so the talks went nowhere.

Trump has made no such demands of the Saudis in his accord. He prepared to sign a “123 Agreement,” named after Section 123 of the 1954 Atomic Energy Act, which allows the U.S. to assist other countries to develop civilian nuclear energy as long as they pledge not to convert the fuel into nuclear weapons.

The U.S. has signed 50 such agreements, but the countries involved have also been among the 144 that have signed the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, allowing international agents to inspect their atomic plants. Saudi Arabia long ago signed the NPT but has not signed the Additional Protocol. As a result, it is unclear how the U.S. or the International Atomic Energy Agency would verify that the Saudis don’t militarize their program.

The United Arab Emirates, which........

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