Will potential deals with Syria and Saudi Arabia help Netanyahu end the Gaza War? (Dina Kraft - June 30, 2025)

Dina Kraft is a journalist, podcaster and the co-author of the New York Times bestseller, My Friend Anne Frank, together with Hannah Pick-Goslar. She lives in Tel Aviv where she's the Israel Correspondent of  The Christian Science Monitor and a creator of the podcast Groundwork, about activists working in Israel and Palestine. She was formerly opinion editor of Haaretz English. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent NJN's views and policy positions.

I woke up just before dawn in Sydney, Australia the morning of June 12, and sleepily got out of bed. It was my last day in the country, and I was determined to see the famed sunrise over Bondi Beach with my friend hosting me. (I had travelled to Australia to speak to the Jewish community at Limmud, a festival of Jewish learning, with a stop planned in New Zealand.) Under a pink sky, and amid its cliffs and coves, legions of swimmers, surfers, rugby players, and runners come out at daybreak, despite the chill of Down Under winter, to seize the break of day together.  

It was indeed a breathtaking scene, but I had trouble relaxing and taking it in. Just before setting out I had glanced at my phone and noticed my fellow Middle East correspondents from The Christian Science Monitor had been busy updating the group chat while I slept. 

Their texts were full of speculation of a possible Iranian strike amid reports U.S. embassy and CENTCOM staff were packing up and ordering non-essential staff and dependents’ departures across the region. Those initial reports morphed into news the next day (at which point I was in Auckland, New Zealand) that Israel had attacked Iran. I felt my body freeze at hearing of the attack. I was basically the furthest point in the world from Israel. My husband was on a work trip in Boston and our two teenagers were home alone in Tel Aviv. I describe the excruciating situation more here. 

Now that there is a ceasefire after 12 long, terrifying days for the people of Israel and Iran, a war within a war is over – an unprecedented one which saw massive destruction in Israeli cities as well as death even for those sheltering in supposedly safe rooms in some cases. 

For Israelis the pressing question now returns to when will the 22-month war with Gaza end. The war that scores of retired generals and security officials and even some past prime ministers have said has exhausted itself and no longer holds any military purpose. Some 70 percent of Israelis have long said it needs to end in order to bring the hostages home. 

In Israel public pressure has been on for months, poured into anguished cries and street protests, but it seems to be intensifying now in light of 20 soldiers killed in the month of June, the ongoing agony and mortal peril of the surviving hostages, and the contrast of seeing how relatively quickly the ceasefire with Iran was forged.

There are also those who find the ever-growing death toll and suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza unbearable. But most Israelis are shielded from images and news of the Palestinian civilian experience in Gaza by a mainstream media that only scarcely reports on it and emotionally removed from it by embracing the oft-repeated line that all Gazans are Hamas supporters. 

But in recent days a change of tone has been emanating from the corridors of power. A pair of ultra-orthodox ministers in the coalition openly questioned the point of continuing the war in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself said the most important goal of the war was to release the hostages, a notable turn of phrase considering he had always in the past coupled it with the other stated war aim: eradicating Hamas. 

Throughout the war Netanyahu has been under pressure from the extreme right flank of his government, i.e. Ministers Bezalal Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, to keep the war in Gaza going to do just that.

On Monday Smotrich said the government should break off any talks with Hamas. “No more dialogue with murderers, no more deals with the devil, no more releasing murderous terrorists.”

Speaking to his fellow Religious Zionism party members, he said:  “It’s time to continue the momentum of victory over the Iranians into a high-intensity war that will destroy the enemy in Gaza and remove the threat for decades to come.” 

But Trump has been pushing for Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza. He is reportedly working on a plan to incentivize ending the war by expanding the Abraham Accords such that Syria and Saudi Arabia might make deals to normalize ties with Israel. 

Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, reported that Trump’s successive Truth Social posts calling for an end to Netanyahu’s ongoing trial are tied to such an ambitious deal in the works, citing an “unnamed senior official close to Netanyahu”.

“It is part of a larger move that is meant to bring an end to the war in Gaza, the release of all the hostages, an end to Netanyahu’s trial, and a serious regional move,” said the anonymous official.

The carrot of Saudi normalization has long been on the table, but it has come at a cost deemed too high by the Netanyahu government – consistently linked by the Saudis to making headway towards a future Palestinian state. But according to some analysts, Israel’s prowess in the Iran war might provide a golden off-ramp for Netanyahu – if not his coalition, which would likely crumble should he approve that deal. 

“The negotiations between Israel and the new Syrian regime are bolstered by a rare confluence of interests. Syrian leader Ahmad al-Sharaa needs foreign investments and sanction relief, while Israel seeks security on its northern border,” Yediot Ahronot reported Monday. 

This deal would also help resolve the puzzle of who would help rebuild and de-radicalize Gaza post-war: the Saudis and the Emirates together. What it means for Netanyahu’s personal political survival, however, is another question. 

From Trump’s perspective and his fixation on a potential Nobel Peace Prize (and potentially Netanyahu’s too) including Lebanon, Syria, and Saudi Arabia would be a most viable way to end the Gaza War – far-fetched and overly optimistic as it may sound today.