Can Biden and Netanyahu end the Israel-Saudi divide?
STORY: U.S. President Joe Biden and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.
And although the allied countries' relationship is strained, the leaders are also pushing what they're calling a potential grand bargain with a third country - Saudi Arabia - that they say could reshape the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia and Israel are adversaries. Biden and Netanyahu say they're working to end that.
BIDEN: "Even when we have some differences, my commitment to Israel, you know, is ironclad. I think without Israel, there's not a Jew in the world who is secure."
NETANYAHU: "Joe, we've been friends for, I've checked it, over 40 years."
"I think that under your leadership, Mr. President, we can forge a historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia and I think such a peace would go a long way for us to advance the end of the Arab-Israeli conflict, achieve reconciliation between the Islamic world and the Jewish state, and advance a genuine peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This is something within our reach.''
Protests against the leaders meeting took place in Tel Aviv and New York the same day.
The U.S. and Israel have been at odds over Netanyahu's controversial judicial reforms and hardline stance on Palestinian issues, which Biden says he raised at the meeting.
Netanyahu has shown little willingness to make major concessions to the Palestinians, which could make it hard for Saudi Arabia to agree to normalizing their relationship.
A senior U.S. official said any potential deal is a long a way off, and would require hard choices by all parties.
