-Ganesh Puthur
According to the top Israeli government officials, PM Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of Mossad Yosef Meir Cohen flew to the city of Neom to meet Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman and US secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Amichai Stein, who is the correspondent at the state-ran Kann’s Diplomatic desk, over a series of tweets has informed the public about this secret meeting.
Stein tweeted, “Mysteries in the Middle East: A direct flight from Israel flew yesterday to the Saudi mega-city Neom on Red Sea shore during the time Saudi MBS and Pompeo were there”. In another tweet he wrote, “A little more mystery? Two days ago, Netanyahu cancelled the meeting of the Corona Cabinet – which was scheduled to take place at Pompeo’s meeting with MBS in Neom. Did Netanyahu join them? PM office on the mystery flight: “No comment”.
Soon after playing an instrumental role in bringing Israel, UAE and Bahrain together around a table in the form of Abraham Accord, US president Donald Trump had said that 7-9 other Arab nations would normalise their relations with Israel in the following months. Considering its proximity with the US, it was expected that Saudi Arabia would soon sign a peace deal with the Israel. Due to the growing influence of Iran in the region, other Arab states tilted towards U.S needthe support of Israel to counter Iran. Also, the growing Turkey-Iran-Pakistan axis is affecting the stability of the region.
Before handing over the presidency to Biden, Trump would definitely try to make some kind of pact between Israel and Saudi Arabia, to wear it as a feather on his diplomatic cap.
