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The Jerusalem Post newspaper said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first hinted at his visit to Saudi Arabia last month, of which the Kingdom’s Foreign Ministry denied the news.
The newspaper said Netanyahu “apparently referred to his visit to Saudi Arabia at a closed-door meeting of the Likud party on Saturday night, in his first known confirmation of this trip.”
And Israeli sources confirmed, according to the newspaper, that Netanyahu met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Saudi city of Neom last month.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu said in a closed-door Likud meeting: “I recently visited other Arab countries, and since I couldn’t speak (beforehand) about the UAE, I cannot speak now.”
Netanyahu was responding to a question about whether Israel intends to normalize relations with the Kurdistan region in Iraq.
The newspaper suggests that the envisaged country in Netanyahu’s words is Saudi Arabia, as “no other trips that Netanyahu made to Arab countries were announced, apart from his visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
The newspaper said Netanyahu expressed hope to visit the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain after they reached peace with Israel in 2020, but has yet to do so.
In late November, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan denied having had a meeting between Netanyahu and bin Salman, with a tweet posted hours after identical sources announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an unprecedented visit to Saudi Arabia, where he held secret talks with the crown prince. Mohammed bin Salman.
In his tweet, Ben Farhan said: “I saw press reports about a meeting between the Crown Prince and Israeli officials during a recent visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo … No such meeting took place. There were only American officials and Saudis. “
Israeli army radio announced that Netanyahu had met with the Saudi crown prince in the Saudi city of Neom, and Israeli Education Minister Yoav Galant confirmed the same information.
