The appeasement between Saudi Arabia and Iran is a brake on the efforts of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to isolate Tehran, but time will tell if it also prevents him from reaching out to Riyadh or planning any possible military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.

After conversations held with mediating role of China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, regional enemies in the Middle East, restored on Friday their diplomatic relations, which had been severed since 2016, in a development that could lead to a realignment of forces and balances in the Middle East region.

The most pressing concern about Israel, some experts argue, is that the agreement Friday’s spat between the major Sunni and Shiite Muslim powers suggests the US is retreating in the region just when the Netanyahu government needs it most.

A Israeli official who asked not to be named, described this Riyadh-Tehran “detente” as a predictable and preliminary process that should not hinder any parallel progress toward normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. After all, Israel has come close to United Arab Emirates despite the fact that Abu Dhabi is also involved with Tehran.

Meanwhile, the Israel continues a campaign of veiled threats to attack Iran alone if it deems nuclear diplomacy deadlocked.

But all scenarios still depend on her Washington, who mediated the Abraham Accords, the peace agreements between Israel and Arab countries. If the US, Israel’s ally, rejects military action, Israel will not want to go ahead with one.

“This is a clever move by China and Iran to undermine the normalization of Saudi-US and Saudi-Israeli relations. “At the same time, it is helping to put Tehran back in the spotlight and undermine US and Israeli efforts by it to build a regional coalition to confront Iran as the Islamic Republic teeters on the brink of developing nuclear weapons,” said Mark Dubiwitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, based in Washington.

But there are others at the same time tensions in the Israel-US alliance. The US administration of Democratic President Joe Biden, which has yet to invite Netanyahu to the White House, has expressed unusually strong concern about his religious-nationalist governing coalition.

Netanyahu is also facing unprecedented mass protests in Israel against his push for judicial reform.

“Bell”

Amos Yadlin, former head of military intelligence under Netanyahu, said appeasement between Saudi Arabia and Iran should be a awakening.

“The administration’s focus on judicial reform, which is dividing the country and weakening Israel in all dimensions, reflects a deep disconnect between Netanyahu and international geopolitical trends,” Yadlin tweeted.

Accusing Netanyahu of “doing a lot of damage to our national security,” Yadlin said he should abandon the reforms — which critics call an attempt to subjugate the courts to the government — and work with Biden on how to forge relations. Israel-Saudi Arabia and jointly confront Iran’s nuclear program.

“US-Israeli coordination appears to be strong in the defense sphere, but weak and in need of change in the offensive sphere,” Ehud Barak, Netanyahu’s former defense minister, wrote in the best-selling Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Iran denies it is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

Eitan Ben-David, Netanyahu’s former deputy national security adviser, said Israel is developing the ability to take unilateral military action, with US cooperation and possible alliances with Gulf Arab states a secondary priority.

Saudi Arabia continues to have knowledge of bAsian role of the US in the region and the value of bilateral ties with Israel, he said.

“Today, too, there is a strong effort to deepen and renew and promote those ties – with the US’s involvement, of course, but also directly,” Ben-David told Israel’s state-run Kan radio network.

The New York Times reported over the weekend that in exchange for normalizing relations with Israel, Riyadh wanted help developing a civilian nuclear program and fewer restrictions on US arms purchases.

Yadlin warned Netanyahu, politically embattled at home and at odds with the White House, from bowing to such demands “in his zeal to present a peace plan with Saudi Arabia as an achievement.”

Saudi Arabia has linked any move by the kingdom to normalize relations with Israel to a resolution of Palestinian statehood goals.

For its part, the White House appeared to downplay China’s involvement in Friday’s deal. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US presidency believes internal and external pressure, including Saudi Arabia’s effective deterrence against attacks by Iran or its proxies, has finally brought Tehran to the negotiating table.