Saudi Arabia Denies, Israel Confirms 'Netanyahu-MBS Secret Meeting'
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister on Monday denied reports that a meeting took place between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman 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 neighbors, 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.
Flight Tracking Data
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 normalize 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.
More publicly closing ranks with the Saudi crown prince could help the conservative Netanyahu burnish his statesman credentials as he faces domestic challenges, including a trial on corruption charges, which he denies, and a feud with centrist coalition partner Benny Gantz, Israel's defense minister.
"Gantz does politics while the prime minister makes peace," Netanyahu spokesperson Topaz Luk tweeted.
Asked on Saturday whether Riyadh had changed its position on Israel, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said the kingdom had supported complete normalization of ties "for a long time", but on condition that Israel and the Palestinians reach "a permanent and full peace deal". Reuters
AFP adds: Bombshell reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held secret talks in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman come after years of low-key diplomacy between the two Mideast powers.
Saudi Arabia on Monday denied Israeli media reports of the talks, saying "No such meeting occurred." Netanyahu's office was not immediately available to comment on the reports.
The meeting, if it did take place, would be the first reported trip by an Israeli premier to the kingdom and a major step towards the Jewish state's acceptance in the Arab world.
Here are some key points on the prelude to the reported meeting and its likely implications.
Covert diplomacy
Several Gulf Arab states have for years been furtively building relations with Israel on the basis of shared animosity towards Iran, with the United States acting as cheerleader as its own relationship with Tehran deteriorated.
That covert diplomacy burst into the open in August when the United Arab Emirates announced it was normalizing relations with the Jewish state.
A similar deal with Saudi Arabia would be the ultimate diplomatic prize for Israel. Riyadh said it would not follow its ally, but Bahrain soon signed up to the deal in a move seen as proceeding only with a nod from its giant neighbor.
Saudi also allowed new direct flights from the Emirates to Israel to travel through its airspace, in another implicit sign of approval.
What's changing in Saudi Arabia?
The kingdom's official position is that a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a precondition for normalizing ties, a stance that carries great weight in the Arab world given its status as custodian of Islam's holy sites.
It has been squeamish about going public with any rapprochement, for fear of a backlash including within the highly conservative nation.
Nevertheless, relations have warmed regardless in a shift spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed, the ambitious young de facto leader.
In steps laying the groundwork for an eventual recognition, the country has pursued a bold outreach to Jewish figures, and state media outlets and even television dramas have emerged as cheerleaders.
School textbooks, once well known for denigrating Jews and other non-Muslims as “swines” and “apes”, are undergoing revision as part of the push to change public perceptions of a community that has long been vilified by the clerical establishment and media.
In February, King Salman hosted a Jerusalem-based rabbi in Riyadh for the first time in modern history. Israeli media published a photograph of Rabbi David Rosen with the monarch, hailing it as a “revolutionary moment”.
What does Saudi stand to gain?
The Gulf oil monarchies and the Jewish state are all staunch US allies who have common concerns over Iran. The move towards rapprochement comes as Tehran has bolstered its influence in several Arab countries.
But there are also many financial advantages to linking up the wealthy Gulf states with the powerful Israeli economy.
Saudi attempts to attract foreign investment to fund its ambitious Vision 2030 economic diversification plan appear to be pushing the kingdom closer to Israel.
A centerpiece of Vision 2030 is NEOM, a $500 billion planned megacity on the west coast where the historic meeting reportedly took place. Observers say the kingdom requires Israeli expertise in areas including manufacturing, biotech and cyber security for the project.
“The Saudis recognize the important role that Israel plays in the region,” Marc Schneier, an American rabbi with close ties to the kingdom and the Gulf, told AFP in May.
“Just a couple of years ago, Khalid bin Salman (a prince and deputy minister) told me that the kingdom knows that Israel is an integral part of their achieving their 2030 economic plan. That is a major statement and really shows the warming of the ties.”
...and lose?
The normalization process jeopardizes the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative sponsored by Saudi Arabia which called for Israel to withdraw from Arab territory occupied in 1967, in return for peace and the normalization of relations between Arab nations and Israel.
Any steps beyond the Israel-UAE agreement — which Palestinian leaders condemned as a “stab in the back” are likely to be criticized by some regional governments and reignite criticism on the “Arab Street” that regional powers are abandoning the Palestinian people.
