The first meeting was reported by Israeli news outlets, and was discussed by the Minister of Education, Yov Gelant. In a radio interview Monday afternoon, though it was unclear whether he had direct knowledge of the meeting or was responding to news reports. “The fact that the meeting was held and made public – even if only semi-commercially – is very important,” he said.
Mr Galant added: “Israel’s heartfelt acceptance by the Sunni world.
Israeli newsletters have quoted unnamed officials as saying that the prime minister flew with Mossad spy agency chief Yossi Cohen to the nearby futuristic city of Prince Mohammed, near the shores of the Red Sea. The reports did not elaborate on the content of the meeting, but noted that the leaders discussed Iran, which, in addition to making it possible to make political relations possible, both countries consider a major threat.
There are no formal diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal said on Saturday. The empire has long supported normalization, but only after the Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.. The Saudis’ Arab peace initiative in 2002 offered the Palestinians complete normalization with the Arab world after the Palestinians gained statehood.
But the tone of the state when talking about Israel has changed rapidly in recent years, and in recent months.
Prince Mohammed, 35, the son of a Saudi king and the de facto ruler of the state, has said that both Israel and Palestine have a right to their land and that Israel is overreacting to economic and security interests with Arab states, especially Iran over their shared enmity.
Saudi news outlets have begun publishing articles about Israeli culture and politics, and last month a Saudi satellite channel aired an extensive interview with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former intelligence chief and ambassador to Washington, who slammed the Palestinian leadership.
