(JTA) — In what would be a first, the Israeli media is reporting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
The meeting Sunday included U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and focused on Pompeo’s agenda of furthering Iran’s isolation before President Donald Trump transfers power to his successor, Joe Biden. Yossi Cohen, the chief of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, also was present, according to the reports. Bin Salman is seen as Saudi Arabia’s effective ruler.
The Saudi foreign minister, Faisal bin Farhan, denied the reports on Monday. Israeli reporters tracking flights identified a flight from Israel to Noem, a major Saudi coastal city, where the meeting purportedly took place.
Netanyahu and bin Salman fear Biden will be more accommodating toward Iran.
The reports of the meeting come after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan have launched normalization agreements with Israel brokered by the Trump administration,
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