CHICAGO: Experts on Wednesday noted Saudi Arabia’s increased concern over Israel’s regional conduct during a panel discussion hosted by the Middle East Institute and attended by Arab News.

F. Gregory Gause III, professor emeritus of international affairs at the Bush School of Government at Texas A&M University, said Israel rather than Iran has become the more immediate worry for the Kingdom.

“I think there’s a real worry that post-Oct. 7 it’s the Israelis, not the Iranians, who might be the fomenters of instability in Syria, in Lebanon, even with the attack on Doha,” he said.

Saudi Arabia’s priority is achieving “stability in the region,” and it believes that closer relations with the US can achieve that, he added.

Former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Michael Ratney said the Kingdom’s concerns have pushed it to seek closer ties to the US through President Donald Trump, who has been more responsive than his predecessor Joe Biden.

During his recent visit to Washington, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “got everything he wanted” for Saudi Arabia’s interests, Ratney said, adding that his priority is to make the Kingdom a lynchpin of regional stability.

The Saudis “are more positive about the relationship with the US than I think a lot of people here realize,” Ratney said. “They genuinely want their entire strategic outlook anchored in the US.”

Dr. Karen E. Young, a senior MEI fellow, said the Saudis have a growing concern for how regional instability impacts their economic advances under the Vision 2030 reform plan.

“Certainly there’s concern for the neighborhood, but in new ways and more geared toward what instability in the region means for economic development, tourism, logistics, trade and even connectivity, whether it’s in trading and selling electricity or perhaps in the transfer of data,” she added. “So they need calm, and that means on both sides of the Red Sea.”