Posted on 04/19/23
| News Source: i24
Eli Cohen reiterates that Israel is not Saudi Arabia’s enemy, and that its true enemy is Iran
Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Wednesday said an official visit to Saudi Arabia was “on the table,” adding that an unnamed Arab country was set to normalize ties with the Jewish state this year.
“This [visit to Saudi Arabia] is on the table, there’s no date yet,” Cohen told Army Radio, noting that there was at least one Arab country planning to join the Abraham Accords this year, without providing further details.
Through the signing of the historic U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, Israel normalized relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, and has been working to expand the peace agreement with more regional states.
Since returning to office in December 2022, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear his priority of establishing diplomatic relations with the Saudi kingdom, and the prospect of such a development materializing seemed to be progressing.
"We want normalization and peace with Saudi Arabia. We view that as perhaps a giant leap towards ending the Arab-Israeli conflict,” Netanyahu told U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham in Jerusalem earlier this week. “This agreement could have monumental consequences, historic consequences both for Israel, for Saudi Arabia, for the region, and for the world.”