According to Israeli media reports, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has left for Saudi Arabia for a secret meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
According to the AP report, this will be the first face-to-face meeting between senior Israeli and Saudi officials.
Hebrew-language media quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accompanied by Israel’s Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, left for the Saudi city of Nyom on Sunday, where he met with Mohammed bin Salman. met where the Crown Prince was there to meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The Gulfstream IV private jet took off from Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv at 5:40 a.m. GMT, according to data from the website flightradar24.com.
According to the data, the flight crossed the eastern edge of the Sinai Peninsula and landed in Neom to the south at 6:30 p.m. The plane took off back from Neum at 9:50 and followed the same route to Tel Aviv.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
Mike Pompeo traveled with an American press delegation during his trip to the Middle East, but left the delegation at Nimes airport when he went to meet the crown prince.
While Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates have signed agreements to normalize relations with Israel under the Trump administration, Saudi Arabia has refused to talk about it.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has long supported the Palestinians in their quest for an independent state, but analysts and insiders believe his 35-year-old son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is likely to play a role in the peace process. More open to the idea of normalizing the relationship without major advances.
The state had approved the use of Saudi airspace by Israeli flights to the UAE
The decision came at a time when Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh.
Bahrain’s normalization of relations with Israel would at least seem to favor Saudi Arabia as the island state of Bahrain is dependent on Riyadh.
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