DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) 鈥 Normalizing ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia would be a key element of ending the war with Hamas and a game-changer for the entire Middle East, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Thursday at the World Economic Forum鈥檚 annual meeting in the Swiss town of Davos.
鈥淚t鈥檚 still delicate, it鈥檚 fragile, and it will take a long time, but I think that it is actually an opportunity to move forward in the world and ,鈥 Herzog said.
It comes days after Saudi Arabia鈥檚 foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said on a Davos panel that the kingdom agreed 鈥渞egional peace includes peace for Israel.鈥 He said Saudi Arabia 鈥渃ertainly鈥 would recognize Israel as part of a larger political agreement.
鈥淏ut that can only happen through peace for the Palestinians, through a Palestinian state,鈥 he said.
U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken also reiterated in a talk at Davos that a could help improve Israel鈥檚 security and its relations with other countries in the region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government, however, of a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Herzog, whose ceremonial role is meant to serve as a national unifier, said public support for it is low because traumatized Israelis are focused on their own safety following . He displayed a photo of Kfar Bibas, the youngest Israeli held hostage in Gaza whose first birthday is Thursday.
鈥淲hen nations come forward and say 鈥榯wo-state solution,鈥 they have to first deal with a preliminary question, which is a core question for human beings: Are we offered real safety?鈥 Herzog said. 鈥淚sraelis lost trust in the peace process because they could see that terror is glorified by our neighbors.鈥
Herzog also stressed the global implications of Hamas' attack on Israel, which he said is just one of the proxies of the 鈥渆mpire of evil emanating from Tehran.鈥
Amid the conflict in Gaza, Iran has taken military action against what it called an Israeli intelligence operation in Iraq and and Syria. Iran-backed rebels in Yemen known as Houthis also have by , triggering and Britain.
鈥淭he Houthi issue is a number one priority, because it raises the cost of living for every family in the universe, a little tribe of 50,000 people, amassed with the weapons of an empire,鈥 Herzog said.
On Wednesday in Davos, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian insisted , as well as against an , are part of his country鈥檚 right to self-defense and accused Israel of 鈥済enocide鈥 in its campaign against Hamas, which has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani also condemned the war in Gaza during a Davos talk Thursday, saying 鈥渢he international community has failed.鈥
But Sudani sought to balance his position between the U.S. and Iran, saying Iraq has 鈥渋nterests鈥 and 鈥渟trategic partnerships鈥 with both. He also reiterated calls for U.S.-led coalition forces to withdraw from Iraq, saying their presence is no longer justified because the Islamic State group is 鈥渘o longer a threat to the Iraqi people.鈥
The Iraqi and Israeli leaders were headliners in Thursday's flurry of activity in Davos venues where world leaders, corporate titans and other elites mingle.
Norway Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told The Associated Press that a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians 鈥渕ight seem far away right now, but it could also be closer than we think.鈥
"A lot of people who used to pay lip service to this are now actually more worried than in the long run, that absent of such a development, we will have a continued escalation of violence,鈥 he said.
The four-day confab at Davos 鈥 which has been criticized as a talkfest about weighty ideas but few solutions 鈥 has taken up a vast array of topics, such as climate change and , a technology that may offer both economic promise and peril.
Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, made his Davos debut after late last year. During a panel on technology and humanity, he faced gentle questioning about the boardroom bust-up as well as a from using its stories to train AI chatbots.
At breakfast panel on the meeting's sidelines Thursday focused on , Polish President Andrzej Duda called for in Western banks to be used for Ukraine.
He said $60 billion earmarked for Ukrainian reconstruction by the U.S. and 50 billion euros ($54 billion) by the European Union were 鈥渃rucial.鈥
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron urged the EU and U.S. to and for allies to remember that together their economies are 25 times bigger than Russia's.
"All we need to do is make our economic strength show, make it pay, and we will be able to help Ukraine bring this to a conclusion,鈥 said Cameron, who at Davos.
Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, arrived to speak out against hatred, including Islamophobia, saying there's been 鈥渁 crisis of antisemitism鈥 since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Speaking to a group of businesswomen, Emhoff, who said 鈥淚 love being Jewish,鈥 noted that his concerns about antisemitism surged after he drove by a highway sign that read 鈥淜anye was right鈥 鈥 an allusion to by the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. Ye .
鈥淎nd it just pissed me off 鈥 it just struck a chord. And I knew I had to do more," Emhoff said Thursday.
What came next was what he called the first national strategy to fight antisemitism in the U.S.
A day earlier, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with several former hostages and relatives of those still held by Hamas, as did some 150 business leaders 鈥 including CEOs Albert Bourla of Pfizer, Andy Jassy of Amazon and Michael Dell of Dell computers.
鈥淣ili Margalit and Moran Stela Yanai, who were released from Hamas captivity, told participants about the hostages they left behind and the urgent need to reach a deal to bring them home before it is too late,鈥 according to a group formed by hostages' families.
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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv. AP journalists Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Masha Macpherson and David Keyton in Davos contributed.
