Hamas Files Reveal Prewar Fear of Saudi Normalization and Internal Anti-Normalization Drive

Documents and minutes from a Hamas delegation’s visit to Tehran in June 2023 show how deeply the group worried about the warming of ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and about the prospect of Saudi-Israeli normalization before the October 7 attack. The material was published Monday on Kan News, in the morning program "This Morning" on Reshet Bet.

The delegation traveled to Iran seeking clarification after Riyadh and Tehran restored relations. It also feared that Saudi-Israeli normalization was advancing. The Hamas delegation included Ismail Haniyeh, Saleh al-Arouri and Khalil al-Hayya, and they met senior Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, former president Ebrahim Raisi, and senior commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Quds Force.

Khamenei tried to calm them, saying, "We decided to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, but this cannot be trusted. Make sure the Palestinian issue has belief and confidence, not political maneuvers. Unlike the Saudis, we are not a broken reed when it comes to the Palestinian issue." Raisi said normalization was futile because there is "no trust in the Zionists," and that it would probably not affect regional states or give Israel security. Parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf went further, saying it was not enough to oppose the process, but to exact a heavy price from the "traitors" in the normalization camp.

The documents also show that in 2022 Hamas considered putting Marwan Issa, deputy to military chief Mohammed Deif, in charge of the file against normalization. The minutes of the meeting stated that the anti-normalization portfolio would be assigned to Issa, while steps would be taken to remove obstacles to that activity. A Hamas executive committee meeting just days before October 7 reportedly instructed members not to enter into a "political suicide" move, meaning no confrontation with Saudi Arabia or with the many states moving toward normalization.

The reporting also says that, in February 2022, 18 months before the October 7 assault, Hamas leaders in Gaza decided to create a dedicated office to manage the strategy against normalization. The goal, according to the minutes, was to formulate the vision, philosophy, general policy and work plan, and then implement them through coordination across the movement. The broader question of why Hamas chose its attack timing remains unresolved.