UPDATE: According to a report, Israeli Radio stated it recorded the trip from the App – Flight Radar –Netanyahu left at 19.30 and arrived in Neom City at 20.30, stayed there for 5 hrs. “Mossad Chief and Bibi met MBS and Pompeo to discuss normalizing relations”, says the report. “Also discussed neighbors other side of Gulf”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Saudi Arabia and met the country’s Crown Prince and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, according to Israeli official, a tweet by the Spectator Index said on Monday.
“If this is true, (it’s) quite remarkable”, says an Asia-Pacific based analyst. “The Saudis could ask Bibi to free the Palestinians and the Riyadh Accord would be credited with bringing peace to the region!”
The New York Times and Reuters also reported of the “breaking news”: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia, Israeli media said, their first known meeting, tweeted NYT.
Breaking News: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia, Israeli media said, their first known meeting. https://t.co/AFpvOvaadr
Asked for his comment, a senior Pakistani official says, “It would be naive to think that the House of Saud will ask (Israelis) for such a thing, and even more naive to expect that the Israelis will oblige them.” The title of “Custodian of Two Holy Mosques” will haunt them, he says. “It’s the beginning of the end.”
“It’s time to cry”, a UAE-based Indian-origin intellectual and writer shares his comment with us.
An Islamabad-based analyst tells DesPardes, “The development should not come as a surprise as high level political contacts between Gulf and the Zionist entity have increased under the US direction. US policy seek to normalize Israel in the region and to end its ‘formal’ regional boycott. Biden administration will continue this policy at the cost of Palestinian cause .But I do caution that the effect of these political outreach should not be underestimated on Muslim street. These moves will further isolate Gulf regimes from masses as the masses are not ready for any compromise on Palestine. The on ground resistance against Israel’s settler colonialism will continue.”
A Gulf political analyst in UAE tells DesPardes pressure is being put on Pakistan by KSA (Saudi Arabia) to recognize Israel. “There are veiled threats about pull back of economic projects”.
“Saudis aren’t pressurizing us. UAE is,” says a Pakistani defense official based in one of the key capitals in GCC. “Saudis themselves are in a fix”, he says.
