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Welcome to Rewind & Reconnoiter. Each week, we’ll ask one of our authors to look back at an article they’ve written for War on the Rocks in light of a current news event. Did their argument hold up? Read more below to find out.***Last month, reporting revealed that the United States was in talks to establish a mutual defense treaty with Saudi Arabia in return for the Kingdom normalizing relations with Israel. If adopted, such a pact would mean that each country would agree to defend the other in case they were attacked in Saudi Arabia or in the region. Now, however, after the stunning attack by Hamas on Israel last weekend, the future of the deal is uncertain.Last year, Jennifer Spindel wrote “The Case for Suspending American Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia” for War on the Rocks. In it, she argued that “an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia would be a signal both to leaders of that country, and other states, that the United States does not endorse Saudi actions,” particularly in terms of human rights violations. In light of the U.S.-Saudi-Israeli deal on the table, we asked Jennifer to look back on her piece. Read more below.Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in Washington, D.C. Image via Wikimedia Commons.Do you think that U.S. concessions to Saudi Arabia on a security pact and nuclear technology in exchange for normalization with Israel is beneficial to U.S. interests? While there is definitely a benefit to normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and an overall ratcheting down of tensions, I am worried that the United States providing a security pact and sharing nuclear technology essentially rewards Saudi Arabia for bad behavior. As I argued in 2019 and have followed up in subsequent research, giving arms to another state signals tacit approval of their actions. Saudi Arabia is