Arab leaders delivered the same message to a Senate delegation visiting the region this week according to those familiar with the discussions. They said that the strong popular feeling is being fueled by catastrophic images of the devastation from Israel’s military campaign, the sources said.
And although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken of months of fighting ahead, a senior administration official traveling with Blinken told NBC News that the U.S. expects the fighting to end in a matter of weeks. Blinken is expected to tell Israel in meetings this week that it needs to wind down its military campaign as soon as possible and employ better targeting to reduce the number of civilian casualties.
That message comes as outrage grows across the region.
Public opinion in Jordan, for decades America’s closest Arab ally, appears to be particularly negative. According to several senators, officials in Amman told them a recent survey found 70% of those questioned said they supported Hamas. A veteran Jordanian diplomat told NBC News that anti-U.S. sentiment is now so high that American-branded local franchises such as McDonalds and Starbucks have seen business drop dramatically, with many closing.
Still, two senior administration officials told NBC News that while Arab leaders are publicly demanding an immediate cease-fire, they are privately telling Blinken that they are prepared to help with one of his top priorities for this trip: supporting post-war reconstruction and governance of Gaza. But they, and the administration, are adamantly against any Israeli reoccupation of Gaza or displacement of Palestinians, as some hard-line ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition have proposed.
Blinken rejected those statements as “irresponsible” and “inflammatory” at a news conference in Doha on Sunday after meeting with Qatari leaders. “Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow. They cannot and they must not be pressed to leave Gaza,” he said. Blinken has been focused intently on the humanitarian crisis, and his other top priorities on the trip are getting U.S. and other hostages out of Gaza and preventing the conflict from spreading to other fronts.
Multiple State Department officials have told NBC News that they are eager to hear what Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, says about U.S.-led efforts to combat the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have been attacking international shipping in the Red Sea.
After meeting with the crown prince in the kingdom later today, Blinken will head to Israel for talks, followed by final stops in the West Bank and Egypt before returning to the U.S. on Thursday.
