"Israel Withdraws Support for 2030 Expo in Saudi Arabia Amid Hamas War Fallout"

Saudi Arabia Criticizes Israel for Attacking Hamas
"Supports Italy Instead of Saudi Arabia"

Israel has withdrawn its support for Saudi Arabia as the host of the 2030 World Expo, according to a report by the local daily Times of Israel (TOI) on the 27th (local time), citing the state-run Al-Kan Broadcasting Corporation.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel [Photo by Xinhua News Agency]

According to the report, on the day before the vote for the host city, Al-Kan Broadcasting stated, "Israel has decided to support Italy as the host instead of Saudi Arabia."

Israel had publicly expressed its intention to support Saudi Arabia over the past year as relations between the two countries were being normalized through U.S. mediation.

However, the atmosphere changed after the Palestinian armed faction Hamas attacked Israel on the 7th of last month, triggering a war. Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, strongly criticized Israel for its retaliatory actions against Hamas.

In particular, Saudi Arabia urged the international community not to sell weapons to Israel and expressed concern over the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Saudi Arabia showed a stance leaning towards Palestine instead of Israel. This has led to analyses that Israel has withdrawn its support for Saudi Arabia's Expo bid.

Meanwhile, the host city for the 2030 Expo will be decided by a secret ballot of 182 member countries at the International Bureau of Expositions (BIE) General Assembly held in Paris, France, on the 28th. The candidate countries are Busan, South Korea; Rome, Italy; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Assuming all 180 countries that have paid their contributions participate in the vote, if a country obtains two-thirds, or at least 120 votes, in the first round, it will be immediately confirmed as the host of the 2030 Expo. If not, a second runoff vote will be held between the top two countries, and the country with the majority of votes will be selected as the host.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.