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Intelligent opinions since 1945.
In sports movies or TV shows there’s always that one episode when the bad-luck team holds open tryouts. Magically, miraculously, there appears a diamond in the rough among the would-be walk-ons. The rest of the group watches in awe as this undiscovered phenom puts on a show of remarkable natural talent.
The Saudis are currently treating their Houthi problem as an episode of Ted Lasso, hoping it can be solved by the mysterious appearance of a natural-born striker. And while the world would be a better place with more Ted Lassos in it, we’re not quite there yet. Holding open tryouts to find a partner who can help the Saudis defeat the Houthis may be a comedy of errors, but it will have long-term consequences.
Especially because the solution is right there in front of everyone’s face: Israel. Unfortunately, the Saudis are too proud to ask openly for Jewish help. So the Saudis will suffer.
We learned today that the Future Investment Initiative, the major Saudi investment conference in Riyadh, has been postponed until 2027. No actual make-up date has been set.
“This decision comes from a deep commitment to our partners, members, speakers, and delegates,” the FII said in a message on its website. “Because this is our landmark tenth edition, we want to ensure it delivers the full scale, extraordinary quality, and unforgettable impact that our community has come to expect and truly deserves. A decade of partnership and shared vision deserves nothing less than our absolute best.”
Last year’s four-day conference, in the FII’s own counting, facilitated $50 billion worth of deals and pledges. In total in the first nine years, the conference has now racked up $250 billion in such deals, according to FII.
The annual conference takes place under the auspices of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which controls assets approaching a trillion dollars in value. FII is one of the ways Riyadh is easing its reliance on oil revenue. The idea is to bring in increased foreign investment and make Riyadh a tech-investment hub. This year’s conference, which was scheduled for next week, would’ve been perfectly timed to enable the Saudis to capitalize on the AI boom.
All was going according to plan—until the Houthis struck the main airport in Riyadh, killing over a dozen and injuring hundreds and forcing flight cancellations. This was after the attempted Flydubai hijacking earlier this month over Saudi skies. The latter incident was no fault of the Saudis, but when the airport was hit days later, it became clear that Saudi airspace was being dragged into the wider conflict in a way it hadn’t been before.
The initial Saudi response to safety concerns was to enable some speakers to join the festivities via video link. Meanwhile, attendees began canceling. Today’s announcement is a major blow to the Saudis’ hopes of matching their growth projections.
And it happened because instead of normalizing relations with Israel and regaining its security, the Saudis are holding open tryouts for a knight in shining armor. First Riyadh tried a defense pact with Turkey and Pakistan, neither of whom has been of any help. So now the Egyptian military may get involved.
The Egyptians certainly have reason to want the Houthi threat lifted. Fees paid to traverse the Suez Canal are an important source of revenue for Cairo. Houthi attacks on the Red Sea shipping lanes can be debilitating to the Egyptian economy. In 2024, Bloomberg reported that Houthi attacks were costing Egypt as much as half of a month’s normal revenue—hundreds of millions of dollars. As a result, Egypt was forced to go back to the International Monetary Fund for help.
The following year, President Trump suggested that U.S. efforts to beat back the Houthis deserved to be rewarded with free U.S. shipping through the canal.
Now, according to Al-Ahram, “Egypt’s National Defense Council pledged to provide all necessary and possible support to Saudi Arabia in defending its borders amid escalating attacks against the kingdom, which it described as unacceptable. The council also said Egypt would continue efforts to contain the escalation and pursue political solutions to ensure security and stability across the region.” This includes at least discussing the possibility of deploying Egyptian troops.
It helps that Egypt has skin in the game, but is a widening of the regional war really in everybody’s best interest? Wouldn’t it make more sense to let Egypt stay home and nurse its economy while having the Saudis officially join the Middle East’s new Abraham Accords-led order? That way, the Israelis could play a more prominent role in safeguarding the alliance. All it would cost the Saudis is an official recognition of the Jewish state. Seems like a bargain.