DID OR DIDN'T THE HISTORIC MEETING TAKE PLACE?

Hours after reported visit to Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu vows to 'expand circle of peace'

 

Israel Hayom

November 23, 2020

 

Despite Saudi denials and silence on the part of Israeli officials, Israel Hayom has learned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman met on Sunday at the kingdom's resort town of Neom.

An Israeli security official and a Saudi official told Israel Hayom that the reported meeting was leaked after social media users began to speculate on the matter following an abrupt change in Netanyahu's schedule as well as report on a the private flight online, although there apparently was a plan to make it public eventually.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, which cited a Saudi official, the two discussed normalization between the two countries but no key decisions were made on the matter. They also discussed the threat posed by Iran, the paper reported.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister on Monday denied reports that a meeting took place between the two, only confirming that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held official meetings in the kingdom as part of his regional tour.

"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.

"I met Pompeo at the airport and went with him to the meeting. I then took him back to the airport. Saudi and American officials were the only ones present throughout," he said.

Saudi Arabia, Islam's birthplace, has long championed the Palestinian cause and shunned official contacts with Israel.

Netanyahu, speaking publicly after the Saudi denial, was circumspect about any clandestine travel.

During his faction meeting in the Knesset, Netanyahu would not confirm that such a meeting took place.

"I have never talked publicly about such things during my premiership and I am not about to begin now," he said, before adding that "for many years I have not spared any effort to bolster Israel and expand the circle of peace."

But asked about the Israeli media reports, Yoav Gallant, a member of Netanyahu's security cabinet, told Army Radio: "The very fact the meeting happened, and was outed publicly, even if half-officially right now, is a matter of great importance."

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, in a speech, condemned "the irresponsible leak of the secret flight to Saudi Arabia". Gantz is the head of Blue and White, the key political rival to Netanyahu's Likud despite being in the same coalition.

Netanyahu, in an apparent message to US President-elect Joe Biden, said in a speech on Sunday there should be no return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal abandoned by President Donald Trump.

As Trump's term winds down, Pompeo has been trying to coax Saudi Arabia to follow the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan in moving toward formal diplomatic relations with Israel.