US-Saudi nuclear agreement draws strong criticism from across Israel's political spectrum

The U.S. and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia officially announced their nuclear cooperation agreement late Wednesday, confirming media reports about the deal.

The agreement quickly drew pointed criticism from Israeli politicians and experts, though the overall response was relatively subdued – possibly in an effort not to anger the U.S. President or the Saudi Kingdom with public opposition.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hadn’t commented on it at the time of publication. The agreement will now be transmitted to Congress for review.

The Energy Department announced that U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman “signed a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement, commonly known as a 123 agreement, alongside an accompanying bilateral safeguards agreement."

"Together, these two agreements lay the legal foundation for a decades-long, multi-billion-dollar partnership that advances several priority economic and strategic objectives, including nuclear nonproliferation,” the announcement continued.

The Israeli criticism has focused on the lack of nonproliferation enforcement, the possibility of a regional arms race, as well as on the lack of conditioning the agreement on Saudi-Israeli peace, as it had been during negotiations over the past years.

While Trump administration officials argued that the key role of U.S. companies in the agreement would prevent the misuse of nuclear technology, critics have pointed out that the agreement is much less stringent and lacks the strong enforcement standards of similar deals struck in the past, like the “gold standard” agreement with the United Arab Emirates.

Today, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia announced a historic, peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement.

Thanks to President Trump, this partnership will strengthen prosperity at home and security to our allies abroad. pic.twitter.com/lUN3cFm5Et

— U.S. Department of Energy (@ENERGY) July 22, 2026

One of the first critics was former defense minister and Yisrael Beitenu party leader, Avigdor Liberman. The hawkish opposition leader doubled down on his criticism later Wednesday, telling Kan News that granting Saudi Arabia a nuclear program was “completely unacceptable.”

“Every military nuclear program starts off as a civilian program,” he warned, “The agreement to allow enrichment on Saudi soil crosses a red line… It puts the whole Middle East into an insane nuclear arms race.”

Many opposition voices argued that the deal was the latest indication of Netanyahu’s loss of control in the relations with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Former deputy IDF chief and Democrats party chairman Yair Golan also blamed Netanyahu, saying that under his leadership, “Israel has completely lost the ability to influence its own destiny.”

“In the past, decisions like this would never have been made without Israel playing a central role in shaping them. Today, our security interests are being trampled. We saw it with Iran, we saw it in the negotiations over Gaza and Hamas, we saw it in Lebanon, and now we are seeing it with Saudi Arabia as well,” Golan said.

“I can’t explain what a total failure by Netanyahu this is,” charged Yair Lapid, No. 2 of the Together Party and currently the leader of the opposition.

“It’s his job to prevent a Saudi nuclear program, or any other nuclear program in the Middle East,” Lapid said, noting that he prevented this during his time as prime minister by threatening the U.S. government to lobby against it in Congress.

Former Prime Minister and leader of the Together Party, Naftali Bennett, called it a “grave strategic failure that endangers our security. Enriching nuclear material on Saudi soil could lead to a regional nuclear arms race and a dangerous loss of control. No one can truly predict what the Middle East will look like in ten or twenty years, which is why what we need is fewer centrifuges in the Middle East, not more.”

Former IDF chief and defense minister Benny Gantz (Blue and White) summed up the criticism by noting that “there is no security expert who would argue that allowing Saudi Arabia to develop a civilian nuclear program without making it part of the construction of a moderate regional alliance is a step that benefits Israel's security.”

He lamented that the government “repeatedly missed opportunities to reshape the Middle East,” as, “instead of moving toward normalization with Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, we are drifting further away, Iran is drawing closer, and Saudi Arabia is gaining a civilian nuclear capability.”

Even some coalition members offered tacit opposition. Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu (Jewish Power) told Kan that Israel “will do as much as we can, in the international arena, and in our foreign policy, to halt the possibility that in the Middle East a certain country – because we can’t rely on it for the long term – has a nuclear weapon.”

He argued that even though “Saudi Arabia is going in a good direction today, tomorrow it could reverse on us.”

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar from Netanyahu’s Likud Party told Army Radio that Israel has clearly communicated its red lines to the U.S. but refused to say explicitly whether the agreement had crossed it, noting that Netanyahu is discussing the issue with security experts.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attempted to assuage some of these fears on Wednesday, stressing that “The U.S. is not going to reach any agreement with any country in the world that leads to the risk of proliferation.”

The Energy Department noted that “The two agreements also advance U.S. and regional security by upholding high standards of nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation and strengthening the United States' competitive edge in civil nuclear technology.”

“These agreements reflect our two nations' shared commitment to strengthening U.S.-Saudi commercial relations, delivering prosperity at home and security to our allies abroad," said Secretary Wright.

“Rest assured, these agreements uphold the highest standards of nuclear safety and nonproliferation, while relying on the world's best nuclear technology and scientists, designed right here in the United States.”