McGurk Claims Oct. 7 Attacks Disrupted Israel-Saudi Normalization Deal

Brett McGurk, who served as a senior Middle East adviser to President Joe Biden, revealed in a new book interview that the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks occurred just days before a major diplomatic agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia was poised to be finalized.

In an interview with Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” McGurk stated that the U.S. was highly confident the normalization deal would be secured had the violence not erupted. The agreement included provisions for a civilian nuclear partnership for Saudi Arabia and established a pathway toward Palestinian statehood.

“I still can’t say if not for what happened a few hours later, we definitely would have gotten the deal,” McGurk said. “But it was definitely moving in that direction.”

McGurk recalled shaking hands with Saudi Princess Reema Bandar on October 6, 2023, to finalize the framework. He described the timing as tragic, noting that in the weeks preceding the attacks, regional dynamics were shifting significantly. For the first time since 1967, a senior Saudi official had visited the West Bank to meet with the Palestinian Authority, and Israeli officials had traveled to Saudi Arabia.

When asked whether Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar knew about these normalization plans and whether that motivated the assault, McGurk replied that while there was no direct evidence linking Sinwar to the intelligence, the attack was planned over several years. He suggested that disrupting this geopolitical shift may have been one of Hamas’s objectives.

“Hamas, of course, does not recognize Israel, wants to destroy Israel, and I would not be surprised if one of the motivations on October 7th was to knock this agenda off the table,” McGurk said.

Addressing the intelligence failures that preceded the attacks, McGurk emphasized that the U.S. government had no actionable warnings. He also cast doubt on recent reports from outlets like The New York Times and Ha’aretz suggesting that leaders from the UAE and Egypt provided prior hints of an impending strike. McGurk stated he was unaware of any such communications during his time in the Situation Room.

“I did not hear… of a pre-warning of October 7 from those two individuals,” he said. He called for Israel to establish a commission of inquiry similar to the 9/11 Commission in the United States to investigate why potential warnings were not acted upon.

McGurk also touched on Qatar’s role as a mediator, noting that Emir Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed had privately told him Hamas was a burden that Qatar would eliminate if the U.S. asked. However, McGurk explained that because Doha remained the only viable channel for negotiations with Hamas regarding hostages, the group continued to operate there with tacit international agreement.