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A reported new deal between Israel, the United States and Saudi Arabia could see Riyadh opening its airspace to Israeli flights, see sovereignty over Red Sea islands returned to the Saudis from Egypt, and lead to the restoration of ties between Washington and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The tripartite agreement would give a major boost to Israel’s tourism industry, cutting the travel time to numerous destinations while reducing ticket costs.
Although Saudi space is open to Israeli airlines, this only applies to flights to and from the UAE and Bahrain, as first agreed to under the Trump-brokered Abraham Accords.
The nascent agreement is part of a more extensive diplomatic shift that has seen Saudi Arabia and Israel inconspicuously cooperating for a number of years. The new deal would make these ties public.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is said to be the driving force behind the latest talks, although he is somewhat hamstrung by his father King Salman, who objects to full bilateral ties with the Jewish state.
Taking a leading role in the negotiations is the United States, which wants Riyadh to ramp up its oil production to counter the effects of rising prices that have resulted since the war in Ukraine broke out.
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The Israeli government was dealt a major blow on Monday night when two rebel Knesset members voted against the renewal of a critical piece of legislation that would have extended Israeli law over Jewish communities in the West Bank.
The bill, which has been in place since the 1967 Six-Day War and is normally renewed every five years, is now set to expire at the end of the month.
The Likud-led opposition, which is headed by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urged current premier Naftali Bennett to resign following the vote.
Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who pushed for the bill’s passage, warned that members of the coalition who do not support the legislation would be responsible for taking down the coalition, which is already unstable – comprised of just 60 seats out of the 120-member Knesset.
The government said it would bring the issue to another vote in the coming weeks.
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Syrian air defenses were mobilized on Monday in response to alleged Israeli missile strikes in southern Damascus, Syrian state media and the UK-based Syria Observatory for Human Rights have reported. The strikes were said to have been aimed at known hubs of Iranian military activity.
According to reports, the missiles were fired from the Golan Heights and targeted sites belonging to Syrian forces, as well as the US-designated terrorist group Hezbollah.
Unverified Syrian reports claim that most of the missiles were intercepted by the country’s air defenses, with some of the projectiles successfully reaching their targets.
Israel has hit Islamic Republic forces and Tehran-backed proxies in Syria on more than a dozen occasions in 2022 alone as Jerusalem works to impede Tehran’s attempts to entrench itself in the war-torn nation, as well as to halt the transfer of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations.
Prior to this latest incident, the previous alleged Israeli incursion into Syria occurred on May 21, when three Syrian soldiers were killed during a missile strike near Damascus.
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According to a senior Israeli official, increasing diplomatic pressure on Iran regarding its nuclear program could see the issue being referred back to the UN Security Council, a move that would be supported by Israel.
This week, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is expected to censure Iran in response to the stalling of negotiations concerning the revival of the JCPOA (the “Iran Deal”). According to the unnamed official: “This decision will for the first time put diplomatic pressure on Iran. Diplomatic pressure that hasn’t been fully and seriously applied since the talks about the return to the JCPOA began.”
Additionally, the Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, is expected to release a report on Iran’s violations of the JCPOA, including its enrichment of uranium to 60 percent (enough for three nuclear weapons), its storing of uranium at three undeclared locations as well as its refusal to disclose the whereabouts of nuclear material and equipment from the Turquzabad nuclear facility.
Grossi’s report comes on the heels of his snap trip to Israel in early June, when he met with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett before returning to Vienna.
In addition to the Western diplomatic frustration regarding the JCPOA negotiations, the Israeli official also commented positively on the cooperation between Israel and America with regards to Iran, and pointed to the recent American sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as proof that the Biden Administration was adopting a tougher stance against the regime in Tehran.
In late May, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that the United States was designating an IRGC money laundering and oil smuggling ring as terror supporters. This was followed by the announcement in early June by Rob Malley, the US Special Representative for Iran, that the United States would continue to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization.
Recommended Reading
- What’s Behind the Improving Ties Between the US and Saudi Arabia? (Omri Nahmias, Jerusalem Post)
- General Mills Refutes Claims by BDS Movement That It Is Boycotting Israel (Mike Wagenheim, Jewish News Syndicate)
- Before WWII, Jewish Mobsters Kept Nazis at Bay in the US — With Their Fists (Howard Lovy, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
- The Israeli Firms That Raised $100M or More in April-May (Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel21C)
- ‘Deadly Scrolls’: Jewish Mystery Book Takes Place in Jerusalem, Qumran (Haley Cohen, Jerusalem Post)
