On several American talk shows, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken cast normalization as a choice between regional peace and the terrorism carried out by Hamas, the militant group in Gaza.
So in both the Trump and Biden administrations, a main diplomatic effort in the Middle East has been promoting normalization between Israel and Arab nations, with Palestinian officials and representatives playing no real role in the talks.
In recent months, Mr. Biden and his top aides have attempted to negotiate with both Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel a complex three-way normalization deal by the end of the year.
They are also watching Saudi reaction carefully and gauging whether Prince Mohammed might change his stance, especially if the Israeli military kills many Palestinian civilians in a Gaza offensive, which would ignite outrage across the Arab world.
On Saturday, in a phone call with Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Blinken said the kingdom should clearly condemn the attack, a State Department official said.
The images on social media of an Israeli offensive will “exacerbate the anger in the Arab world and I think particularly in Saudi Arabia,” he said during a call with reporters on Saturday arranged by the Council on Foreign Relations.
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