Reports Israeli PM met with Saudi crown prince
Israeli media reported yesterday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Saudi Arabia for a clandestine meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which would mark the first known encounter between senior Israeli and Saudi officials.
The reported meeting was the latest move by the Trump Administration to promote normalised ties between Israel and the broader Arab world and reflected the shared concern of all three nations about Iran.
The Israeli news site Walla, followed quickly by other Hebrewlanguage media, cited an unnamed Israeli official as saying that Netanyahu and Yossi Cohen, head of
Israel’s Mossad spy agency, flew on Monday to the Saudi city of Neom, where they met with the crown prince. The prince was there for talks with visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Both Pompeo and Netanyahu declined to comment. The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, denied the meeting took place.
While Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates have reached deals to normalise ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia has remained out of reach. The Trump administration, as well as Netanyahu, would love to add the Saudis to that list before it leaves office in January. In Sudan, a military official said an Israeli delegation was in the country to discuss the normalisation efforts. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the visit with the media.
King Salman long has supported the Palestinians in their effort to secure an independent state as a condition for recognising Israel. However, analysts and insiders suggest his 35-year-old son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, likely is more open to the idea of normalising relations without major progress in the moribund peace process. — AP