Analysis: Netanyahu’s Secret Saudi Meeting Exposes Blue And White’s Petty Politics As Elections Loom

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Despite numerous initial denials on the part of the Saudis, it is now clear that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Mossad chief Yossi Cohen flew secretly Sunday to Saudia, where they met with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Israeli and Saudi officials said Monday.

Netanyahu was on the ground in Neom, a brand new Red Sea city, for more than three hours for the first known high-level meeting between an Israeli and Saudi leader after flying on the private plane of businessman Ehud Angel — the same jet that the prime minister used for a covert visit to Oman in May 2019, according to a Kan news report.

The meeting focused on Iran and the incoming Biden administration, which may modify its approach to the Iranian nuclear agreement which President Trump left in 2018. There was no immediate announcement of agreements, but the meeting itself is a watershed event as it the first time an Israeli leader had publicly met with a Saudi prince to discuss common goals.

Yet even though the historic meeting itself is a huge achievement for the Israeli leader, it is noteworthy that he did not even bother to coordinate the meeting or even invite his foreign minister Gabi Ashkenazi or Defense Minister Benny Gantz, signalling the contempt that Netanyahu holds for the Blue And White party leaders who announced a public probe into the recent acquisition of naval submarines, a direct snub aimed at the prime minister who ordered the acquisition. The announcement, coupled with a statement by Gantz that “all that interests Netanyahu is his trial”, signified that Blue And White intend to break up the shaky coalition with Likud and initiate Israel’s fourth election in two years.

Netanyahu has a narrow window of opportunity to try and reach a peace agreement with the Saudis in the waning months of the Trump administration. If he – with generous support from the US, as evidenced by Secretary of State Pompeo’s active participation in the talks – can engineer such an agreement, it would be a major feather in his cap as he seeks reelection despite his legal indictments and with Yemina leader Naftali Bennett hard on his heels in recent polls taken in Israel.

At present such an agreement appears increasingly unlikely, as the Saudis will not want to present the Biden administration with a fait accompli which contradicts the policies of the incoming president. Moreover they have stressed repeatedly that an agreement is contingent on an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty.

Most recently, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said Sunday that “We have supported normalization with Israel for a long time, but one very important thing must happen first: a permanent and full peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians.” However Farhan had also originally denied that the meeting between Netanyahu and Bin Salman had even taken place and it is possible that more moderate elements in the Saudi leadership can see the strategic benefits of an alliance with Israel, coupled with its new ties with the powerful Gulf states. Ultimately this may override Saudi concerns for the Palestinians, who have been left behind in the rush for mutual cooperation against Iranian belligerence and expansionism.