Despite US President Donald Trump’s optimism, an Israel-Saudi normalization deal is “virtually impossible” by year’s end and would require a “miraculous change” in Jerusalem, a Saudi commentator close to the kingdom’s leadership has said, according to a New York Times report Saturday.

The comment came ahead of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s upcoming trip to Washington, DC, set for mid-November, when Trump will likely push the issue.

Trump has repeatedly expressed his belief that Arab and Muslim countries will be able to normalize relations with Israel now that a ceasefire he helped broker has been reached in Gaza, and the Iranian nuclear threat has ostensibly been neutered.

However, Ali Shihabi, the Saudi commentator, said a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia was “virtually impossible” by the end of the year, “unless a miraculous change took place in Israel.”

Shihabi said that the prince, commonly known as MBS, is insisting that Israel take an “irrevocable,........

© The Times of Israel