Many exotic souvenirs adorn the walls of Mossad head Yossi Cohen's office. They were awarded to him after hair-raising missions, cooperative ventures that should be kept under wraps and undisclosed meetings in capitals that do not recognize Israel. Among them are a beautiful sword, a lovely box containing some of the finest cigars in the world, a notable item from the Iranian nuclear archive, and more.
The presents expose the reality that has been revealed to the citizens of Israel starting this past summer. In the world of the head of Israel's Mossad, it's been a few years since Israel has been a tiny country under threat by a sea of hostile Arab states. In complete contrast to what has been accepted as fact, in his office and the office of his boss, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel is a regional power around which Arab states are gathering in order to join forces against shared challenges. For that to come together, people need to meet. When people meet, besides talking, they give each other gifts.
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Starting next week, when direct flights to Dubai will start to take off from Ben-Gurion Airport, ordinary Israeli homes will begin to fill up with objects brought back from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. But not Saudi Arabia. The Sunni superpower is a different story. Cohen and Netanyahu apparently have a lot of memories and souvenirs from that kingdom, and not only from the meeting held there on Sunday. But it will take time before the rest of Israel's citizens can make a quick excursion to Riyadh.
The importance of the meeting between Netanyahu and close associates of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, in which US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also took part, was not that it took place at all. For years, Israeli representatives have been meeting with their Saudi counterparts, even at the level of prime minister. The importance of the meeting was that it was made public. All signs indicate that both sides wanted the news of it leaked, since up until now they haven't had a hard time keeping these meetings secret.
A direct flight
"This wasn't the prime minister's first or even second meeting with the crown prince. There were cases of Netanyahu disappearing for 24 hours, and if he'd wanted, no one would have noticed," a senior advisor to Netanyahu told Israel Hayom this week.
But this time, someone took the trouble to leave plenty of breadcrumbs, as if he wanted to have been found.
The first hint came 24 hours before the meeting. Netanyahu's spokeswoman Shir Cohen was informed on Saturday night that a cabinet meeting scheduled for Sunday would be postponed until Monday to give minister [Zeev] Elkin and Izhar Shay time to finish working on plans for digital tracking of COVID carriers, including the legal matters involved.
It was a strange explanation, since anyone who keeps tabs on Netanyahu's schedule is used to meetings being delayed without explanation. Moreover, Elkin and Shay hadn't requested the postponement and did not need to finish anything.
The second sign was the exposure of a flight route direct from Ben-Gurion Airport to the Saudi city of the future Neom across from Eilat Bay. Aviation aficionados all over the world know the sites that track civil aviation. Anyone who wants to cover their tracks can take evasive action.
But somebody made the decision for fly direct from Israel to Saudi Arabia at 1 p.m., as if to say, "Find me, already." The military censor, which used to strike reports submitted to it about Netanyahu's meetings with the crown prince, allowed this one to be published. Netanyahu did not use any of the tools at his disposal to keep the meeting a secret. We can assume he did what he did in coordination with fellow participants Prince Mohammad and Pompeo.
Of the three, the exposure of the meeting was most sensitive for the prince. On one hand, the Saudi crown prince is the main actor in the process of normalization between Israel and Arab states. If he hadn't supported it, the Emirates and Bahrain would not have recognized Israel. On the other hand, Bin Salman is running most important, the richest, the most religious, and the most insular Arab kingdom, and he needs to be careful.
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The Saudis are far behind the UAE and Bahrain, which started opening up to the western world years ago. Dubai is building an international interfaith center that includes a mosque, a church, and a synagogue, all equal in size and beauty. In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, there is no Jewish community or synagogue, and non-Muslims are not permitted to enter Mecca or Medina, as huge billboards declare shamelessly.
Bin Salman, who is only 35, understands that he needs to open his kingdom to the world. He is leading the Saudi Vision 2030 plan, which among other aspects includes developing the tourism and foreign investment sectors – processes that happened long ago in the UAE and Bahrain. Bin Salman understands that it will not be possible to depend on oil forever. As a member of the next generation who has seen something of the world, Bin Salman realizes that it will not be possible to market Saudi Arabia for foreign investment while forbidding women to drive or maintaining a boycott of Israel.
Common security interests
Bin Salman knows exactly what he wants, but his father, King Salman, is still alive and active, and unwilling to take such supposedly radical steps as recognizing Israel. True, this is a kingdom, not a democracy, but there are also checks and balances. Bin Salman is not free to do what he likes, and it looks like his assent to allowing Sunday's meeting to be made public was something of a test balloon.
When it comes to diplomacy, it appears as if we have gone as far as we can with the Saudis. But the same cannot be said when it comes to defense and security, to which some of the meeting was devoted. The participation of Brig. Gen. Avi Bluth, Netanyahu's military secretary, indicates that threats and responses were discussed. These are what Cohen and his people, as well as IDF officials, have been discussing with the Saudis for years.
The entity that threatens the Saudis is also a threat to Israel – Iran. The day of the meeting, Iranian militias once again struck a major oil facility with a missile fired from Yemen. Iran's aggression, of course, is the biggest catalyst that is pushing Arab states into Israel's arms.
Next month, Netanyahu is slated to depart for a historic visit to Bahrain and the Emirates. The bottom line is, what was happening in the UAE for years under the radar, and since the Abraham Accords has come to light, is also taking place with the Saudis. But Israeli-Saudi ties, at least at this stage, will remain in the shadows.
