The Saudi port at Jeddah. Saudis consider Iran and the Islamic State to be greater threat than Israel. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – A new survey that an Israeli college conducted in Saudi Arabia reveals that Saudis consider Iran a much greater enemy than Israel.

In the poll, commissioned by the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya together with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 53 percent of the 506 Saudi respondents named Iran as their main adversary, compared with 22 percent choosing the Islamic State terror group and 18 percent picking Israel.

Additionally, 85 percent of respondents said they support the Saudi-led Arab Peace Initiative, which calls for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal based on Israel’s withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders.

The survey results come as Israel and Saudi Arabia, who do not have diplomatic relations, are both opposing the emerging nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

“There is a commonality of interests between Saudi Arabia and Israel right now that the Israeli government should take advantage of and capitalize because it is unique in the history of the two states,” said IDC’s Professor Alex Mintz, who oversaw the survey, the Associated Press reported.