Transcript: Brett McGurk on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Oct. 4, 2026

On October 4, 2026, in an interview with Margaret Brennan for Face the Nation, Brett McGurk, a top Middle East adviser to former President Joe Biden, discussed the timeline and potential connection between the planned Palestinian-Israeli normalization deal and the October 7, 2023 attack in Israel. The deal, which was nearing completion, aimed to create a pathway for Palestinian statehood and normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

McGurk explained that the book chronicles the history in a chronological manner, starting three days into the Biden administration when he was tasked with meeting the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to discuss significant changes in Saudi policy. The Crown Prince mentioned the possibility of recognizing Israel, a potential breakthrough deal.

However, it was not until about a year and a half into the administration that the progress began, leading to a package of agreements, including a Palestinian Authority working with the deal.

On October 6, 2023, just a few hours before the attack, McGurk had a Saudi delegation in his office with Princess Reema Bandar. They had mapped out a pathway for the deal, which was expected to be finalized by the first quarter of 2024. However, the attack knocked the agenda off the table, and the potential Palestinian pathway was never realized.

Regarding the possibility of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar knowing about the plans for normalization, McGurk stated that they never found any direct connection. He emphasized that the attack had been planned for years and was not something that suddenly emerged. Nonetheless, he acknowledged that the assumption of Hamas being deterred and not launching a massive attack on such a scale was a false assumption in the Israeli security system, leading to a tragic failure of imagination.