The middle East is rocked by sensational news-the leader of Israel paid a secret visit to the crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. It is possible that the Jewish state and the country-leader of the Islamic world will soon establish diplomatic relations, putting an end to the 75-year feud. The two countries are clearly drawn together by a shared hatred of Iran. However, the main peacemaker was Joe Biden – and, it seems, against his will.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) over the weekend, where he met with crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud and US Secretary of state Michael Pompeo, who was on an official visit to the Arab country at the time. This sensational news was broadcast on Monday by the state-run Israeli radio "Kan".
The trip was kept secret, but if confirmed, it would be "an extremely rare high-level meeting between long-time adversaries,"the Guardian writes. The Jerusalem Post reports that the secret meeting took place in Neom – a new city on the red sea coast, designed to demonstrate the technological progress of the Saudi Kingdom.
However, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al Saud denied any news about the secret visit. "I have seen press reports of a meeting between His Highness the crown Prince and Israeli officials during Secretary Pompeo's recent visit," the Minister wrote on Twitter. The only representatives were from the Kingdom and the United States."
However, al Saud's statement does not explain why a private jet from Israel arrived in neom – just at the moment when the crown Prince and the US Secretary of state were visiting There. According to the service FlightRadar24.com, the Gulfstream IV plane took off from Ben Gurion airport on Sunday evening and initially headed over the Eastern part of the Sinai Peninsula before turning towards Arabia. According to the BBC, it landed in Neoma at about 18: 30 and remained there until 21: 50. Israeli media add that the plane belongs to businessman UDI Angel and that Netanyahu has previously flown it to other countries.
Ex-diplomat, former adviser to the Minister of internal security of Israel Alex Wexler also does not believe the Saudi foreign Ministry. "There was a visit. It was a special plane registered in San Remo, its trajectory and landings are recorded everywhere-they can easily be confirmed at least by American registered documents. And Netanyahu himself, when asked directly about the trip to the Knesset, did not deny it," he explained.
"As far as we know, our Prime Minister was accompanied by Mossad chief Yossi Cohen. And Cohen, I think it happens quite often in Saudi Arabia.
The foreign Ministry's denial is caused by the fact that the parties agreed not to make the fact of the visit public. In Riyadh, they behave cautiously, especially since the line of the crown Prince regarding rapprochement with Israel does not completely coincide with the line of his father and family," Wexler added.
It is clear that Neom talked about joint opposition to the Iranian nuclear program, the source is sure. "The main reason for the meeting was the consolidation of the positions of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the current US administration against Joe Biden's restoration of the nuclear deal with Iran, "Wexler believes –" in Addition, Netanyahu's meeting with bin Salman brought the countries one step closer to establishing official diplomatic relations before the end of the term of Donald trump."
As TASS reminds, information about possible contacts between Israel and the KSA attracts special attention in the light of trump's attempts to attract Riyadh to the so-called Abraham agreements, under which in September Israel led an active policy of reconciliation with Arab countries. In September, for the first time in history, it established diplomatic ties with the Emirates and Bahrain. In October, he announced normalization with Sudan. The agreements were dubbed "Abraham's" in memory of the biblical character, who is considered the spiritual ancestor of all followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Predictably, Palestine is categorically opposed to these agreements.
But, as you know, Israel's rapprochement with the Arab countries is helped by the strengthening of their long-standing common enemy-the regime of the Iranian ayatollahs. "Thanks to our strong stance against Iran's nuclear weapons, as well as our opposition to the nuclear agreement with Iran, many Arab countries have radically changed their attitude towards Israel," Netanyahu said over the weekend, not without pride. Not to mention Biden's name, he spoke strongly against the restoration of the "nuclear deal" with Tehran.
Zvi Magen, an employee Of the Institute for national security studies at tel Aviv University, former Israeli Ambassador to Moscow and former chief of the Nativ intelligence service, believes that reports of a secret visit by Netanyahu are plausible, but urges not to connect it with the alleged change of power in Washington, "and even more so with the preparation of any military operations" against Tehran. "It is unlikely that trump is preparing a new strike on Iran in the remaining time. Of course, anything can happen, but it seems unlikely to me, " Zvi Magen told the newspaper VZGLYAD.
In his opinion, the secret visit means only the continuation of Israel's policy of expanding the circle of participants in the "Abraham agreements", which is actively supported by trump. "This is not an action in defiance of Biden. We are talking about expanding the bloc of countries friendly to Israel in the Middle East. But the emerging Pro-American bloc becomes by definition anti-Iranian. Of course, if Biden intends to dramatically change the course of the United States in the region, it will now be more difficult for him to do so, " the ex-diplomat admitted.
Magen does not rule out that the authorities themselves leaked information about Netanyahu's visit, and if so, the day is not far off when tel Aviv and Riyadh will officially establish diplomatic relations.
Last week, Saudi Foreign Minister al Saud warned that the Kingdom is ready to establish relations with Israel in full only after the conclusion of the Palestinian-Israeli peace Treaty. But Magen is confident that the Palestinian issue is no longer the main obstacle. "If before this, Arabia and all Sunni States clearly took a Pro – Palestinian and anti-Israeli position, now new conditions have been created that will force the Palestinians to agree to the peace process and go to negotiations with Israel," Magen added.
Arabist, RSUH Professor Grigory Kosach does not rule out that Joe Biden will try to resurrect the nuclear deal with Iran, buried by trump. "But there is no certainty that Biden will restore the nuclear deal in full. After all, this will be actively resisted by the Arabian monarchies. In the Saudi press these days, there is a clear hope that the Democrats who won in the United States will keep the trump line in the Persian Gulf region, " the Arabist says.
"In Israel, the ruling circles also say that the development of relations with the United States can be reversed under Biden. But even this is unlikely. The return of the Democrats to the line of Obama, who quarreled with tel Aviv, will not happen anyway, - Kosach is sure. - after all, the United States and Israel have much more serious priorities – in particular, to attract all new Arab countries to sign the "Abraham agreements".
Andrey Samokhin, Artur Priymak
