The show aired on September 5, 2023 and addresses the changing diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The US is actively negotiating a normalization deal between the two countries. In the show, Nick Schifrin discussed the possible deal with Robert Satloff, Bernard Haykel and Dalia Dassa Kaye.
Dalia argues that the proposed deal seems to go beyond the type of cooperation the US has with other regional partners and that a high price will be paid by the US if the deal comes to fruition. She adds,
there's a lot of wishful thinking about the kind of gains that [the deal] could potentially bring.
The Saudi record on human rights and continued repression will be a particularly important issue for the deal. The deal could also "potentially bolster the Israeli prime minister when he is launching this assault on the independent judiciary in the country". It is also naive to think that the deal can move the Saudis back into the US camp and further away from the Chinese orbit.
