Saudi Arabia denies, Israel confirms the meet
Dubai, Nov 23: Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister on Monday denied reports that a meeting took place between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and Israeli officials on Sunday.
“I have seen press reports about a purported meeting between HRH the Crown Prince and Israeli officials during the recent visit by @SecPompeo. No such meeting occurred. The only officials present were American and Saudi,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud tweeted.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly flew to Saudi Arabia on Sunday to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israel’s Kan public radio and Army Radio said on Monday.
A member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet and Likud party confirmed media reports on Monday that the Israeli prime minister had held a meeting in Saudi Arabia, calling it an “amazing achievement”.
“The very fact the meeting happened, and was outed publicly, even if half-officially right now, is a matter of great importance,” Education Minister Yoav Gallant told Army Radio when asked about Sunday’s visit, in which Israeli media said Netanyahu met the Saudi crown prince and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
If confirmed, it would be the first publicly acknowledged trip by an Israeli leader to the country which has traditionally championed the Palestinian cause and shunned all official contacts with Israel.
As US President Donald Trump’s term winds down, Pompeo has been trying to coax the Gulf powerhouse to follow its neighbours, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, in establishing formal relations with Israel.
Netanyahu’s office and the US Embassy in Jerusalem had no immediate comment on the reports.
The rapprochement between Israel and the Gulf states is built largely on shared concerns about Iran – and, potentially, about whether US President-elect Joe Biden will review Washington’s regional policies.
Netanyahu was joined on his Saudi trip by Mossad director Joseph (Yossi) Cohen, who has spearheaded discreet diplomatic outreach to Gulf Arab states, said the Israeli media reports, quoting unidentified Israeli officials.
Riyadh has so far declined to normalise ties with Israel. But since August it has allowed Israeli airliners to overfly Saudi territory to newly available Gulf destinations and Asia.
Avi Scharf of Israel’s Haaretz newspaper published aviation tracking data showing that a business jet had made a brief trip from Tel Aviv to Neom, on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast, where Mohammed bin Salman and Pompeo had a scheduled meeting on Sunday.
