The Saudi Crown prince asked Natanyahu’s support
The Middle East Eye published a report in which it revealed new details regarding the meeting of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which took place in the Saudi city of Neom early this week.
In the report, it was said that the Saudi crown prince requested Netanyahu’s mediation with the new US president, Joe Biden, regarding the case of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered in his country’s consulate in Istanbul more than two years ago, explaining that Bin Salman is afraid of imposing personal sanctions on him.
The report indicated that bin Salman told Netanyahu that he and Saudi officials feared sanctions from the Biden administration over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which requires the mediation of the Israeli entity to avoid this.
And it was mentioned in the report that Saudi officials acknowledged that the meeting between bin Salman and Netanyahu indicates that the Kingdom considers the Israeli entity “a very important ally in everything related to confronting Iran”.
The officials, who were described in the report as “closely aware” of what happened in the meeting between Bin Salman Netanyahu, added that the meeting “has major repercussions in everything related to closer relations between the two sides”.
According to Saudi officials, the meeting between Netanyahu and bin Salman came to try to “reduce the damage” resulting from the approach of US President-elect John Biden and his aides to reach a new agreement with Iran, noting that Riyadh is sure that the new administration in Washington is interested in moving in this direction.
Saudi officials stressed that Riyadh is interested in forming “a united front with Israel in everything related to the Iranian issue, and this forces the two parties to present demands to the United States and European countries within the framework of the contacts that the new administration will make regarding the resumption of work in the agreement with Iran”.
Saudi officials indicated, as quoted by the report, that despite the development of relations between Tel Aviv and Riyadh, Bin Salman informed Netanyahu that Riyadh is currently interested in keeping the relationship publicly at this level.
The officials added that bin Salman had reassured Netanyahu that a major shift had occurred in the Saudis’ position on normalization with Israel, noting that the Saudi crown prince briefed Netanyahu on the results of a public opinion poll conducted by an international research center claiming that about half of Saudis support normalization with Israel.
In the context, the British “The Economist” newspaper said that there is happiness in both Riyadh and Tel Aviv after the Israeli media leaked the news of the tripartite meeting that was held secretly in the Kingdom and brought together bin Salman, Netanyahu and Pompeo.
“Haaretz” newspaper quoted an informed source as saying that the head of the Israeli Mossad, “Yossi Cohen”, participated in the secret meeting. Meanwhile, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that “Netanyahu” and “Cohen” left in a private plane Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, to the Neom area in Saudi Arabia.
