Trump insider claims Saudi-Israeli peace talks leaked

An official in Jake Sullivan's office leaked information about Saudi-Israeli peace talks shortly before the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, a US academic who supported Jared Kushner on the Abraham Accords told Iran International.

Jeff Sonnenfeld, appears on the Eye for Iran Podcast said a deputy from National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan's team may have leaked information about the Biden administration's discussion with Saudi Arabia and Israel about expanding the Abraham Accords shortly before the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.

A spokesman for the national security adviser told Iran International that this claim was false.

Sonnenfeld did not reveal the person's identity and said that this person, whom he described as a man, had no malicious intentions but had allegedly bragged too much, and that had given Hamas a taste of what was to come.

“Jake Sullivan, who I think is fantastic, he had a deputy who apparently can't stop talking and stuck a finger in Hamas's eye on October 5th or 6th, just days before the next crucial final phase of the Abraham Accords is about to be signed, with Saudi Arabia and even Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority signing,” Sonnenfeld said.

“It would have been amazing if Hamas had not tempted fate so much, realizing that this was their last moment to attack,” he added.

There were several analysts who speculated that the Iran-backed proxy was launched on October 7 to counter a formal alliance between Israel and Iran's Sunni opponent Saudi Arabia, thereby shifting the balance of power in the Middle East.

While Saudi normalization with Israel was within reach, the Oct. 7 attack and new revelations about the alleged leak ended any chance of a peace deal between the two nations.

The historic 2020 Arab-Israeli normalization agreements were touted as a triumph of U.S. diplomacy. Under the Trump administration, the United States negotiated four deals in five months that established diplomatic, social, economic and peaceful ties between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. Direct flights between Israel and some Arab countries began and embassies opened for the first time.

It was a massive break with the rhetoric that Arab nations would not negotiate with Israel until the Palestinians were given their own independent state

Just days before Saudi Arabia was set to join, Hamas launched its attack, triggering a war with Israel that derailed the process amid intense violence in Gaza.

The Biden administration adopted the Abraham Accords – one of the few policies the outgoing president wanted to carry over from his predecessor Donald Trump.

It appears that a certain member of the Biden administration had a knack for revealing too much at a critical time, according to Sonnenfeld, who attended the 2019 conference Peace through prosperity Conference in Bahrain that outlined the Abraham Accords.

“There's a representative who calls the crisis from the Middle East to Central Europe, this guy can't stop talking.”

Sonnenfeld had high praise for President Joe Biden and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, but said the person who allegedly leaked the information had caused great harm.

“He is more than naive. “It's because of his negligence and misconduct in office, but he's pretty self-confident and quite a dandy to boot,” said Sonnenfeld, describing the man, whom he did not name for legal reasons.

Sonnenfeld said the leaks that came to light, what he called untimely boasting, were detrimental to progress.

When asked on the Eye for Iran podcast whether this person may have inadvertently influenced the timing of the Iran-backed Hamas attack on Israel, Sonnenfeld replied: “It didn't help.”

“It was a nuisance at an inopportune time. As President Biden admitted months later, they were just days away from formally signing that, as a reckless person, I don't think he got any personal benefit from it. It was just pure arrogance and smugness.”

You can watch the full episode of Eye for Iran with Jeff Sonnenfeld YouTubeor keep listening Spotify, Castbox, Apple or Amazon.