Netanyahu reportedly had secret meeting with MBS, Pompeo

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly traveled to Saudi Arabia on Sunday night for a secret meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Reports surfaced in Israeli media, citing unnamed sources, that Netanyahu departed from Tel Aviv on a private jet, known to be previously used by the PM, at 7:30pm. After flying through Egypt and landing in the Saudi city of Neom, flight-tracking websites indicated that the plane returned to Israel five hours later, around 12:30am. 

Haaretz reported that Netanyahu was accompanied by Yossi Cohen, chief of the Mossad, Israel’s international intelligence agency. The two, along with Pompeo and MBS, allegedly discussed topics relating to Arab-Israeli normalization and Iran during the secret meeting. 

While Netanyahu’s office has declined to comment on the meeting, and it appears that alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz was reportedly in the dark about the trip, other Israeli officials seemed to indicate that the meeting did in fact take place. 

Israel’s Education Minister Yoav Galant said in a radio interview that “the fact that the meeting took place and was made public — even if it was in only a semi official way — is something of great importance,” and that it “is something our ancestors dreamed about,” the New York Times noted

Haaretz pointed to the fact Netanyahu’s aide Topaz Luk tweeted that “Gantz is doing politics while the prime minister is making peace.”

In the wake of the media circus surrounding the meeting, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud denied that such a meeting took place, saying “There was no meeting,” and that “Saudi and American officials were the only ones present.”

After his trip, Pompeo made no mention of Israel when he described the “constructive visit” with Saudi officials, saying “The United States and Saudi Arabia have come a long way since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and King Abdul Aziz Al Saud first laid the foundation for our ties 75 years ago.”

During his regional tour, Pompeo has emphasized the Trump administration’s focus on Iran as  “the central threat inside the region,” a sentiment shared by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries like the UAE, leading to increased speculation that Iran was likely a major topic of discussion in the meeting.  

Despite the conflicting reports from both sides, the idea that Netanyahu would visit MBS — the first ever known official meeting of the leaders of Israel and Saudi Arabia — has contributed to growing suspicions that Saudi Arabia could be moving towards officially normalizing relations with Israel. 

The regional superpower has long been reported to have extensive “under the table” diplomatic and commercial relationships with Israel, but has yet to simply formalize them. 

US President Donald Trump and Netanyahu have both heavily advocated for Arab-Israeli normalization during their time in office, with a recent push by the Trump administration in recent weeks to add more countries to the list of normalizers, along with the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan. 

Saudi Arabia, however, has denied that it will be announcing normalization any time soon, insisting that the country remains dedicated to finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before establishing any relationships with Israel. 

In an interview with Reuters over the weekend, Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud said that Saudi Arabia has “supported normalization with Israel for a long time, but one very important thing must happen first: a permanent and full peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians.” 

Palestinians have expressed their outrage towards Arab normalization with Israel, which they have described as a “betrayal” to their cause and a “stab in the back.” In the wake of recent normalization deals, Palestinians have also been left increasingly frustrated as their government and leaders have failed to put forward any real strategy to combat normalization.

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