Analysis: Covert Israeli-Saudi meeting sends Biden a strong message on Iran
FILE PHOTO: A combination picture shows Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Osaka, Japan June 29, 2019 and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem February 9, 2020. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS
RIYADH/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A historic meeting between Israel's prime minister and Saudi Arabia's crown prince has sent a strong signal to allies and enemies alike that the two countries remain deeply committed to containing their common foe Iran.
Last Sunday's covert meeting in the Saudi city of Neom, confirmed by Israeli officials but publicly denied by Riyadh, conveyed a coordinated message to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden that Washington's main allies in the region are closing ranks.
It was the first publicly confirmed visit to Saudi Arabia by an Israeli leader and a meeting that was unthinkable until recently as the two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations. But it underlines the depth of the two countries' concerns about Iran, and shows how opposition to Tehran is bringing about a strategic realignment of countries in the Middle East.
"It's Iran, Iran, Iran," Israeli cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel's Army Radio when asked about the visit. "It is very, very important to create the axis which isolates Iran."
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both enjoyed strong support from U.S. President Donald Trump and championed his "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran.
They fear Biden will adopt policies on Iran similar to those adopted during Barak Obama's U.S. presidency which strained Washington's ties with its traditional regional allies.
Biden has said he will rejoin the international nuclear pact with Iran that Trump quit in 2018 - and work with allies to strengthen its terms - if Tehran first resumes strict compliance.
Both Israel and Saudi Arabia have recently ramped up rhetoric against Iran, which is locked in several proxy wars with Riyadh in the region.
Iran has built a network of armed Shi'ite militias across the Arab world, from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon and down into the Gulf and Yemen. Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked Saudi oil installations last week, the latest in a string of attacks on Saudi targets.
Israel is waging a shadow war against Iranian forces, mostly through regular air raids in Syria on Lebanese Shi'ite paramilitary group Hezbollah, on Iran's Revolutionary Guard, and on supplies of weapons as they are moved across the country.
SAUDI KING NOT INFORMED
Sunday's meeting was held in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israel's spy chief, Israeli media said.
Pompeo, who has been trying to coax Saudi Arabia to follow the lead of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan in normalising ties with Israel, declined to confirm the meeting. But diplomats in the region said U.S. envoys had privately confirmed the meeting took place.
Netanyahu declined comment on the meeting. He has yet to visit the UAE and Bahrain since formal ties were established, with tacit approval from Gulf powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
On Thursday, he said he expected more countries to normalise ties with Israel in the next few months.
There was limited talk of the meeting on Saudi social media, but some opposition figures denounced the visit. Political analysts said the Saudi denial of the meeting could have been a way to test the waters at home.
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has softened its stance on Israel in recent years, but signalled it is not yet ready to officially normalise ties, which analysts say would be a difficult move for King Salman in the absence of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
"(The meeting with Netanyahu) aimed to highlight that MbS (Mohammed bin Salman) is more willing than his father to take steps towards normalisation without first reaching a two-state solution," said Neil Quilliam, Associate Fellow at Chatham House think tank.
Despite this, normalisation is not expected to happen while King Salman is alive, said a well-connected Saudi source and a foreign diplomat in Riyadh.
"Normalisation ... is a carrot to get (Biden's) focus away from other issues, especially (Saudi) human rights," the diplomat said.
The Saudi source and the diplomat said the Saudi king was kept in the dark about Netanyahu's visit.
Although the king chaired last weekend's virtual G20 leaders' summit, rumours of his declining health have swirled since he was admitted to hospital this summer.
A video was leaked during the G20 summit which showed MbS correcting the confused king's recollection, a leak which sources said was intentional.
The Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last Sunday's covert meeting in the Saudi city of Neom, confirmed by Israeli officials but publicly denied by Riyadh, conveyed a coordinated message to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden that Washington's main allies in the region are closing ranks.
It was the first publicly confirmed visit to Saudi Arabia by an Israeli leader and a meeting that was unthinkable until recently as the two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations. But it underlines the depth of the two countries' concerns about Iran, and shows how opposition to Tehran is bringing about a strategic realignment of countries in the Middle East.
"It's Iran, Iran, Iran," Israeli cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi told Israel's Army Radio when asked about the visit. "It is very, very important to create the axis which isolates Iran."
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both enjoyed strong support from U.S. President Donald Trump and championed his "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran.
They fear Biden will adopt policies on Iran similar to those adopted during Barak Obama's U.S. presidency which strained Washington's ties with its traditional regional allies.
Biden has said he will rejoin the international nuclear pact with Iran that Trump quit in 2018 - and work with allies to strengthen its terms - if Tehran first resumes strict compliance.
Both Israel and Saudi Arabia have recently ramped up rhetoric against Iran, which is locked in several proxy wars with Riyadh in the region.
Iran has built a network of armed Shi'ite militias across the Arab world, from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon and down into the Gulf and Yemen. Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked Saudi oil installations last week, the latest in a string of attacks on Saudi targets.
Israel is waging a shadow war against Iranian forces, mostly through regular air raids in Syria on Lebanese Shi'ite paramilitary group Hezbollah, on Iran's Revolutionary Guard, and on supplies of weapons as they are moved across the country.
SAUDI KING NOT INFORMED
Sunday's meeting was held in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israel's spy chief, Israeli media said.
Pompeo, who has been trying to coax Saudi Arabia to follow the lead of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan in normalising ties with Israel, declined to confirm the meeting. But diplomats in the region said U.S. envoys had privately confirmed the meeting took place.
Netanyahu declined comment on the meeting. He has yet to visit the UAE and Bahrain since formal ties were established, with tacit approval from Gulf powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
On Thursday, he said he expected more countries to normalise ties with Israel in the next few months.
There was limited talk of the meeting on Saudi social media, but some opposition figures denounced the visit. Political analysts said the Saudi denial of the meeting could have been a way to test the waters at home.
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has softened its stance on Israel in recent years, but signalled it is not yet ready to officially normalise ties, which analysts say would be a difficult move for King Salman in the absence of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
"(The meeting with Netanyahu) aimed to highlight that MbS (Mohammed bin Salman) is more willing than his father to take steps towards normalisation without first reaching a two-state solution," said Neil Quilliam, Associate Fellow at Chatham House think tank.
Despite this, normalisation is not expected to happen while King Salman is alive, said a well-connected Saudi source and a foreign diplomat in Riyadh.
"Normalisation ... is a carrot to get (Biden's) focus away from other issues, especially (Saudi) human rights," the diplomat said.
The Saudi source and the diplomat said the Saudi king was kept in the dark about Netanyahu's visit.
Although the king chaired last weekend's virtual G20 leaders' summit, rumours of his declining health have swirled since he was admitted to hospital this summer.
A video was leaked during the G20 summit which showed MbS correcting the confused king's recollection, a leak which sources said was intentional.
The Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ISRAELI LEAK
The leak of Prince Mohammed's meeting with Netanyahu may have been intentional from Israel: an executive jet was used for the direct flight from Tel Aviv, which was quickly spotted on open-source flight trackers, and Israeli censors made no efforts to quash reporting on the trip.
The leak gave Netanyahu an opportunity to embarrass his political rival, Defence Minister Benny Gantz, who is due to take over as prime minister a year from now under a power-sharing agreement.
It included news that Netanyahu had not informed Gantz about the flight, in effect implying to Israeli voters that the centrist politician cannot be trusted to keep a secret, following speculation that an early election is on the cards.
Gantz called the leak "irresponsible".
Netanyahu has acknowledged he also kept Gantz in the dark about secret negotiations with the UAE that led to normalisation.
Saudi Arabia has been technically at war with Israel for the last 71 years.
ReplyDeleteI am glad the Saudis finally realise that it is in their National Interest to develop normal inter-governmental links with Israel.
Only a brain-washed warmonger would prefer the Forever War to continue.
The Saudis have NOT stopped their support for the Palestinians ( which they are the biggest bankrollers) , but they have agreed to stop the Forever War with Israel.
How could that be wrong ?
Ostb is it?
Delete"to stop the Forever War with Israel"!!!
DeleteHow political correct naïveness to the nth of the bleeding heartily fart.
The forever wars that happened in that cursed Abrahamic cults birthplace have many factors.
Inter-cults bloodlettings r one. Tribalism conflicts r another.
But the prime contributing factor is the Western Machiavellian power plays, using a land far far away from their respective borders, to prime their politico-economical interests.
Yankee hawk, Russo bear & pommie weasel r the worst of the manipulators, supplemented by egoistic & historical Middle Eastern feuds amongst the various feudalistic tribes!
The current superficial friendly treaties signed amongst these traditional nemesis wouldn't LAST! Most likely, just months after the new potus takes over the US reign.
The sign is in the humongous amount of military HW prominent from US, Russia etc by these regional foes after signing those trump instigated toilet papers.
The ultimate beneficiaries r the military HW paddlers.
As usual, the ordinary Middle East people r the pawns & victims!
Israel-Saudi formal relations is just a matter of time, probably after the “passing of the baton” from the King to his son MBS the Crown Prince.
ReplyDeletePalestine? Just a distraction, used by fellow Muslim nations like Malaysia who use the Palestinian “issue” to drum up support of local Muslim. Why don’t Muslims find a home for fellow Muslim Kurds, in Turkey, Iran etc? Why do millions of Syrian refugees go through terrible danger to seek asylum in Europe and not other countries in the Middle East? No issue there, but Palestinians.....BIG ISSUE. Because got Jews mah....
Anything go wrong in the world, blame the Jews. Hitler used this tactic, it worked. Nazi Germany believed it.
The Iranian Ayatollahs use it. Israel is the Evil Empire which must be destroyed. Allah said so. That is why we need nuclear weapons.
Toonsie used it too....ha ha ha. World terrorism? It’s the fault of those greedy hook-nosed evil people.
All the Jews want is a homeland, a tiny strip of rocks and desert the size of Perak. Muslims own millions of square kilometers of rich land all over the world.
QUOTE
Dr M: Want to end terrorism? Recognise Palestine and stop Israeli atrocities
By YUSHAIMI YAHAYA
September 29, 2018
NEW YORK: Recognise Palestine and stop Israel’s blatant atrocities to stand a chance of ending terrorism.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the present war against terrorism would only be elongated if the root causes were not addressed.
“This present war against the terrorists will not end until the root causes are found and removed and hearts and minds are won.
“What are the root causes? In 1948, Palestinian land was seized to form the state of Israel. The Palestinians were massacred and forced to leave their land.
UNQUOTE
an atheist is jealous of the unification of book believer ie the judaism, sunni n christianity.
ReplyDeleteThe Bidin fella has the hots for the Iran deal, and will do almost anything to get it in motion again.
ReplyDeleteHe is preparing to dump both Israel and the Saudis, in return for his new buddies, the Ayatollahs.
Satanyahu sent his assassin in to kill an Iranian scientist just yesterday. Now the score is even, hehe...Mossad 1, CIA 1 (Gen Soleimani). These people from democracy countries are so even-handed democratic ...fair and square, you dapat satu, I pun dapat satu, hehe
ReplyDeleteNo doubt Trump-The-Nasty-Sore-Loser is in cahoots with that Satan in the desert, to sabotage Biden's plan to get back to the Iran JCPOA nuclear deal. But the Buffoon Sore Loser is not done yet, not by a long shot....he still has 52 days left to do his monkey business, saving the best for Chyna, hehe
Anyway, as can be seen, Biden's new cabinet members are mostly recycled Obama's men and women. When Trump said he will make America great again, and now Biden said America is back again, what's the great difference between these two statements ? Same-same
It just shows Trump and Biden have the same goal - American dominance at all cost, except that the Biden administration will go about it in a more strategic manner, with less crude language.
Pretty obvious that "Not RPK" @ "JJ" @ WuMao is a typical online troll with multiple accounts and multiple nicknames.
DeleteDime a Dozen as Americans say, WuMao in Chinese.
WuMao ain't defamatory!
DeleteMore so self financing & self motivated.
How about old moneyed mfer, like u?
Keeping lying even when been exposed! Otherwise, the gravy train stops!
This is the reason why MonstrousBigot cannot rebut satisfactory and just slink away....his brain is 'suffocated' to the brim with his adored white supremacist propaganda and as can be seen here, he absolutely cannot rebut rationally on my posting and can only resort to ad hominem attack, hehe. Pathetic.
DeleteIn fact, I was rather proud of the "Not RPK' nick which I deliberately created for exclusive use on RPuKi's MalaysiaToday once-upon-a-time long ago, to show my middle finger to his Mr Hyde face, transformed so dramatically from Dr Jekyll...writing outrageous blatant lies about the Chinese when his own wife is Chinese too. Hehe, of course, with his kind of arrogance, he just couldn't take my 'biadap-ness' and I was banned almost immediately....this nick does remind how I managed to get under his skin, albeit very briefly LOL
For once, try to rebut with accurate facts and cogent arguments and not be such an obvious whitecock sucker....snarky one-liner bashing CCP and now this ad hominem attack just don't cut it...better stick to local gossips and local politics then.
Anyway, do try for once to rebut if you can this...we all can give you another opportunity here, hehe :
"Satanyahu sent his assassin in to kill an Iranian scientist just yesterday. Now the score is even, hehe...Mossad 1, CIA 1 (Gen Soleimani). These people from democracy countries are so even-handed democratic ...fair and square, you dapat satu, I pun dapat satu, hehe
No doubt Trump-The-Nasty-Sore-Loser is in cahoots with that Satan in the desert, to sabotage Biden's plan to get back to the Iran JCPOA nuclear deal. But the Buffoon Sore Loser is not done yet, not by a long shot....he still has 52 days left to do his monkey business, saving the best for Chyna, hehe
Anyway, as can be seen, Biden's new cabinet members are mostly recycled Obama's men and women. When Trump said he will make America great again, and now Biden said America is back again, what's the great difference between these two statements ? Same-same
It just shows Trump and Biden have the same goal - American dominance at all cost, except that the Biden administration will go about it in a more strategic manner, with less crude language."