Israeli media reveal: Netanyahu visited Saudi Arabia on Sunday and secretly met with rge Saudi Crown prince in the presence of the US Secretary of State and Director of the Mossad

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan denied on Monday Israeli media reports about a meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Kingdom.

The minister wrote in a tweet, “I followed press reports about an alleged meeting between His Highness the Crown Prince and Israeli officials during the recent visit of (US Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo.

No such meeting took place. 

The only officials present were Americans and Saudis.

On Sunday, Israeli media reported that Netanyahu and the head of the Shin Bet security agency had made an unprecedented visit to Saudi Arabia and met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Neom area in the northwest of the kingdom, the closest point to Israel.

The meeting took place in the presence of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

An Israeli government source confirmed the visit. 

The Israeli public radio also quoted Israeli officials, whose identities were not revealed, as saying that Netanyahu and Yossi Cohen “went to Saudi Arabia and met Pompeo and Bin Salman in the city of Neom”.

The Saudi official media published pictures and a video recording of the meeting between the crown prince and Pompeo only.

For his part, a minister in the Israeli government, a member of the “Likud” party, confirmed media reports that spoke on Monday, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting in Saudi Arabia, describing the matter as “a wonderful achievement”.

In response to a question about Israeli media reports that reported that Netanyahu visited Saudi Arabia on Sunday and met with the Saudi crown prince and the US Secretary of State, Education Minister Yoav Galant told Army Radio, “The fact that the meeting took place and that it was talked about publicly, even if almost formally so far, is very important”.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (Kan) and Israeli Army Radio reported on Monday, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited Saudi Arabia on Sunday to meet the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Muhammad bin Salman and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo there.

If confirmed, this would be the first officially recognized visit of an Israeli leader to Saudi Arabia, which usually leads efforts to defend the Palestinian cause and refuses any official contacts with Israel.

As Donald Trump’s presidential term in the United States draws to an end, Pompeo is trying to persuade Saudi Arabia to follow the example of its neighbors the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in establishing formal relations with Israel.

There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office or the US embassy in Jerusalem.

The official Saudi media has not mentioned any visit to Netanyahu, and the Saudi government media office has not yet responded to Reuters’ inquiries.

The rapprochement between Israel and the Gulf Arab states is based largely on shared concerns about Iran and prospects for US President-elect Joe Biden’s review of Washington’s policies in the region.

Israeli media reports, citing unnamed officials, stated that Mossad Director Joseph Cohen accompanied Netanyahu on his visit to Saudi Arabia. 

Cohen led secret diplomatic efforts to reach out to Arab Gulf states.

Riyadh has so far refused to normalize relations with Israel, saying that the goals relating to the establishment of a Palestinian state must be achieved first.

But since August the Saudis have allowed Israeli planes to fly over their territory en route to Gulf destinations and Asia.

Avi Scharf of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published flight tracking data showing that a business plane had made a short flight from Tel Aviv to Saudi Arabia’s Neom on the Red Sea coast, where a meeting between bin Salman and Pompeo was scheduled to take place on Sunday.

Any open rapprochement with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia would help Netanyahu consolidate his capabilities as a statesman at a time when he faces challenges at home, including his trial on corruption charges, which he denies, and rivalry and disagreements with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, his partner in the ruling coalition and belonging to the centrist movement.

“Gantz practices politics while the prime minister is making peace,” Netanyahu’s spokesman Topaz Locke said in a tweet.

When asked on Saturday whether Riyadh has changed its stance on Israel, the Saudi foreign minister said the kingdom had long supported full normalization of relations on the condition that Israel and the Palestinians reach a permanent and comprehensive peace agreement.