{"id":459408,"date":"2026-05-25T17:27:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/459408\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T17:27:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:27:18","slug":"saudi-crown-prince-told-donald-trump-ally-he-could-recognize-israel-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/459408\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Crown Prince told Donald Trump ally he could recognize Israel ‘today’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman<\/a> privately told evangelical leader and Trump ally Mike Evans that he was ready to recognize Israel \u201ctoday,\u201d but that his father, King Salman, remained the obstacle, Evans told The Jerusalem Post on Monday during a visit to Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I talked to the crown prince<\/a>, he told me that he would acknowledge Israel today,\u201d Evans said. \u201cBut he said his problem was his father.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans, the founder of Friends of Zion and a longtime evangelical supporter of Israel, said he met with the Saudi crown prince for two hours, with MBS\u2019s brother and the Saudi foreign minister also present. According to Evans, the crown prince\u2019s brother expressed a similar view.<\/p>\n

The account could not be independently verified by the Post.<\/p>\n

The comments came as US President Donald Trump moved to link a possible Iran deal to a broader push for Arab and Muslim countries to join the Abraham Accords.<\/p>\n

\"AbuAbu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan receives Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates December 7, 2021. (credit: BANDAR ALGALOUD\/COURTESY OF SAUDI ROYAL COURT\/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)<\/p>\n

Trump said Monday that countries including Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey should join the accords as part of an effort to reach a deal with Iran, Reuters reported. Trump also said he had spoken Saturday with leaders from those countries, as well as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.<\/p>\n

Claim that MBS rejected the idea of dividing Jerusalem into two capitals<\/p>\n

Axios reported Sunday that Trump asked leaders from several Arab and Muslim-majority countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain, to normalize relations with Israel after a possible agreement to end the Iran war.<\/p>\n

Evans said he believed Trump\u2019s demand was serious.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s genuine,\u201d Evans said. \u201cDonald Trump has got enormous negotiating leverage with Saudi Arabia right now. Enormous leverage. And I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any question of the doubt that the president plans on delivering these countries because he\u2019s trying to move towards a genuine peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans said the Saudi crown prince had also been sharply critical of the Palestinians during their private conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crown prince said, speaking to the Palestinians, they wasted our money,\u201d Evans said. \u201cHe said they shouldn\u2019t be attacking Israel. They should be copying Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans also claimed that MBS rejected the idea of dividing Jerusalem into two capitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he spoke about Jerusalem, he said if there was ever two capitals in Jerusalem, it\u2019d be a terror capital,\u201d Evans said. \u201cHe appeared to be more pro-Israel than a large percentage of the Jewish population.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Abraham Accords were signed during Trump\u2019s first term, normalizing relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020, followed by Morocco and Sudan. Saudi Arabia<\/a> has long been viewed as the central prize of any broader normalization effort, though Riyadh has publicly tied recognition of Israel to progress on the Palestinian issue.<\/p>\n

Evans said he was unconvinced that Palestinian statehood was the real obstacle to Saudi recognition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not so sure that was holding it up,\u201d he said. \u201cI think honestly things have changed. I think there\u2019s no problem with him. I think he\u2019ll do it. I think Donald Trump means it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s latest proposal also included countries seen as more complicated prospects for normalization with Israel, including Qatar, Turkey, and Pakistan. Qatar has hosted Hamas leaders and played a central mediation role in hostage negotiations, Turkey\u2019s government has sharply criticized Israel during the Gaza war, and Pakistan has never recognized Israel.<\/p>\n

Evans argued that Trump\u2019s personal relationships and diplomatic leverage could still produce results.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump<\/a> has got enormous negotiating leverage,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s built a lot of friendships, and he can deliver on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans framed the possible expansion of the Abraham Accords as part of a larger regional battle against Islamist movements, especially the Muslim Brotherhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the ammunition that has created the problems for the State of Israel and for the Jews worldwide is the Muslim Brotherhood,\u201d he said. \u201cBy creating this alliance with these Sunni countries, Abraham Accords, you are checkmating the Muslim Brotherhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans also defended Trump\u2019s handling of Iran amid Israeli concern over reports of a possible agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo president in history has done more for the State of Israel than this president,\u201d Evans said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to look at the positive rather than the negative.\u201d<\/p>\n

He warned that Iran would make a major mistake if it tried to mislead Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe Iran is going to keep their promises,\u201d Evans said. \u201cIf they try to play him for the fool, he\u2019ll come back and hit them. They would make a terrible mistake to underestimate this president.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tucker Carlson and MAGA\u2019s Israel debate<\/p>\n

Evans also addressed the internal Republican debate over Israel, including the influence of Tucker Carlson and other voices critical of US support for Israel.<\/p>\n

He said Friends of Zion had mobilized 1,000 pastors who traveled to Israel and then used social media to counter what he described as anti-Israel narratives inside parts of the conservative movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you and I talked last time, Tucker Carlson was in the White House,\u201d Evans said, referring to Carlson\u2019s proximity to Trump-world figures. \u201cAnd very close to the vice president.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans said Friends of Zion then launched a social media campaign against Carlson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe mobilized our 1,000 pastors who came to Israel,\u201d he said. \u201cWe started going after a social network campaign. We got 138 million views and started attacking, exposing Tucker Carlson.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTucker Carlson right now has been thrown under the bus by Donald Trump,\u201d Evans added. \u201cHe\u2019s out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans said the broader phenomenon should still concern pro-Israel conservatives, especially because Carlson maintains a large following among younger right-wing audiences.<\/p>\n

He also claimed, without providing evidence in the interview, that Gulf money had helped fuel anti-Israel narratives online.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a huge amount of Gulf oil money, documents of AI that are being used to fuel and feed all of this,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman privately told evangelical leader and Trump ally Mike Evans that he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[83,54,42,46,214111,87738,66318,43,67,78,78365,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-459408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-abraham-accords","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-israel","tag-jerusalem-capital","tag-mbs","tag-mohammed-bin-salman","tag-news","tag-palestinian-statehood","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-saudi-royals","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}