Israeli-Saudi meet sends Biden a message
A historic meeting between Israel's prime minister and Saudi Arabia's crown prince has sent a strong signal to allies and enemies alike that the two countries remain deeply committed to containing their common foe Iran.
Last Sunday's covert meeting in the Saudi city of Neom, confirmed by Israeli officials but publicly denied by Riyadh, conveyed a coordinated message to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden that Washington's main allies in the region are closing ranks. It was the first publicly confirmed visit to Saudi Arabia by an Israeli leader and a meeting that was unthinkable until recently as the two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations. But it underlines the depth of the two countries' concerns about Iran, and shows how opposition to Tehran is bringing about a strategic realignment of countries in the Middle East.
"It's Iran, Iran, Iran," Israeli cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel's Army Radio when asked about the visit. "It is very, very important to create the axis which isolates Iran." Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both enjoyed strong support from U.S. President Donald Trump and championed his "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran. They fear Biden will adopt policies on Iran similar to those adopted during Barak Obama's U.S. presidency which strained Washington's ties with its traditional regional allies.
Biden has said he will rejoin the international nuclear pact with Iran that Trump quit in 2018 - and work with allies to strengthen its terms - if Tehran first resumes strict compliance. Both Israel and Saudi Arabia have recently ramped up rhetoric against Iran, which is locked in several proxy wars with Riyadh in the region. Iran has built a network of armed Shi'ite militias across the Arab world, from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon and down into the Gulf and Yemen. Tehranbacked Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked Saudi oil installations last week, the latest in a string of attacks on Saudi targets.
Israel is waging a shadow war against Iranian forces, mostly through regular air raids in Syria on Lebanese Shi'ite paramilitary group Hezbollah, on Iran's Revolutionary Guard, and on supplies of weapons as they are moved across the country. Sunday's meeting was held in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israel's spy chief, Israeli media said.
Pompeo, who has been trying to coax Saudi Arabia to follow the lead of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan in normalising ties with Israel, declined to confirm the meeting. But diplomats in the region said U.S. envoys had privately confirmed the meeting took place. Netanyahu declined comment on the meeting. He has yet to visit the UAE and Bahrain since formal ties were established, with tacit approval from Gulf powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
On Thursday, he said he expected more countries to normalise ties with Israel in the next few months. There was limited talk of the meeting on Saudi social media, but some opposition figures denounced the visit. Political analysts said the Saudi denial of the meeting could have been a way to test the waters at home.