The Yemen trap: Why Saudi Arabia should reject Israel’s help

If reports are true that Benjamin Netanyahu tried to offer Israeli involvement on Saudi Arabia’s side in the war in Yemen, this should not be read as help. It should be read as a political and strategic trap.

Israel does not want to save Saudi Arabia from Yemeni missiles. It wants to insert itself into the heart of Gulf security, connect this role to normalization, and open a new door for political and military pressure. This is exactly what Saudi Arabia should reject.

The idea is simple. If Israel enters the Yemen war under the title of “helping Saudi Arabia”, it does not give Riyadh extra strength. It gives Saudi Arabia’s opponents a golden narrative: Saudi Arabia is no longer fighting alone; it is fighting as part of an American-Israeli front. This would damage Saudi Arabia’s political legitimacy, strengthen the Houthi narrative, and open the door to wider escalation.

The problem is that Israel has not been able to protect itself from the Yemen front. When Yemeni missiles and drones targeted Israel, Tel Aviv did not stop them. It struck Hodeidah port, but the attacks continued, the Red Sea remained unstable, and Eilat port entered a deep crisis. If Israel cannot protect itself from this front, how can it claim that it can protect Saudi Arabia?

This is why the Israeli “gift” is not a gift. It is a burden.

Saudi Arabia does not need Israeli aircraft to solve its problem with Yemen. It needs to close this file politically and security-wise. Continuing the war threatens the basic idea behind Saudi Arabia’s new project: security, investment, energy, and stability.

The Gulf sells a clear image to the world: we are a safe and stable region, able to guarantee energy, attract investment, and build a post-oil economy. But this image cannot survive under missile fire. You cannot invite investors to Riyadh while airports and vital infrastructure are under threat. You cannot build Vision 2030 in the shadow of an open war. You cannot become a global center for tourism, energy, technology, and services while your capital itself may be targeted.

Security is not a detail in the Gulf. Security is the core of the Gulf model.

This is why the war in Yemen is not only a military problem. It is a direct economic and political threat to Saudi Arabia’s future.

Every additional day of war weakens the image of Saudi Arabia as a stable country. Every missile strike, even if it does not cause major military damage, creates a serious psychological and investment cost.

This is where Israel’s game becomes clear.

Israel lives on regional chaos. The more Arab states are busy with internal and regional wars, the more Israel advances: in Gaza, the West Bank, southern Lebanon, and Syria. It wants to tell Arabs: your enemy is Iran, your enemy is the Houthis, your enemy is this group or that group. Then it uses this division to present itself as a security partner, as if it is not the same power destroying Gaza, turning southern Lebanon into burned land, and pushing toward annexation and displacement in Palestine.

The first strategic question in any regional policy is this: who is the main threat?

If the answer is wrong, everything built on it will also be wrong. If Saudi Arabia sees Yemen alone as its existential problem, it will enter a long war of exhaustion. If it sees Iran as the only enemy, it will remain trapped in a framework imposed for years by Washington and Tel Aviv. But if it sees the full picture, it will understand that the biggest danger is the fragmentation of the region itself and its transformation into permanent battlefields.

This does not mean the Houthis are innocent. It does not mean Iran has no project, influence, or interference. And it does not mean Saudi Arabia should not worry about its security. Saudi Arabia has every right to protect its borders, cities, infrastructure, and people. But protecting security does not mean staying in an endless war. And it does not mean opening the door for Israel to enter the Yemen file in the name of “help”.

The solution is not to import Israel into the Gulf. The solution is to redefine Gulf security.

Real Gulf security is not built on expensive Israeli defence systems, changing American promises, or turning Yemen into a permanent war of attrition. Real security begins with closing the Yemen front, opening serious negotiations, establishing a non-aggression arrangement, securing borders, protecting navigation, and stopping Yemen from being used as a card by regional and international powers.

Oman can play a role here. Iran can also play a role in mediation if it has influence. Wider regional arrangements are possible, not based on humiliating anyone, but on stopping the bleeding. The alternative is clear: the longer the bombing continues, the more blood is spilled. And the more blood is spilled, the harder it becomes for anyone to step back.

Long wars do not create political courage. They create memories of revenge.

That is why the most dangerous scenario today would be turning the Saudi-Yemeni war into a Saudi-Israeli war against Yemen. In that case, Saudi Arabia would not gain military support. It would lose its narrative, open a new door to escalation, and give Israel a place inside the Gulf security equation.

Netanyahu does not want peace in Yemen. He wants a longer war. He wants Saudi Arabia to remain in need of weapons and protection. He wants Yemen to remain a pressure card. He wants to appear before Washington and the world as part of the region’s “security solution”, while in reality he is part of the problem.

Saudi Arabia was right to reject this path. But rejection alone is not enough. What is needed now is a brave political initiative to close the Yemen file before it becomes a black hole swallowing security, investment, and regional standing.

The difficult path is not always the wrong path. Sometimes the hardest decision is the smartest one: stop the war, open negotiations, and prevent the Gulf from becoming another arena for Israel’s wars.

Saudi Arabia does not need Israel to be safe. It needs a regional policy that reduces enemies, closes fronts, protects its home front, and prevents Netanyahu from dragging it into a war that serves only his project.

The Yemen war should never have started. Today, what matters most is that it should not continue.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.