WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Former Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s role in negotiating normalization agreements between the occupying regime and Arab states and promised “peace” with Saudi Arabia if he returns to office.
Netanyahu, who was ousted as prime minister last year, has been looking to make a comeback and has touted his role in warming relations with the Arab world in the run-up to another round of elections in November.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Netanyahu hailed the upcoming regional trip by U.S. President Joe Biden, which will see him travel by direct flight between the Israeli-occupied territories and Saudi Arabia, as evidence of his achievements in the Middle East.
“This is an important visit because from here, the president will fly to Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“A direct flight is an expression of the massive change we have brought to the Middle East. Our policy has truly created a new Mideast.”
Meanwhile, Zionist finance minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Monday that he hopes U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to the region this week will lead to the creation of a common Middle East market.
At an economic conference hosted by a newspaper, Lieberman discussed the prospects of integrating economies in the region: “It is time to create a new, common market in the Middle East.”
“It will change the reality here from end to end, in both the fields of security and of economics. Therefore, I hope the emphasis during Biden’s visit will be on creating this new market in the Middle East.”
Although Saudi Arabia does not officially recognize the Zionist regime, ties between the two sides have been warming in recent years and diplomacy has frequently been conducted in secret.
In November 2020, three months after the signing of the Abraham Accords, Netanyahu reportedly secretly flew to Saudi Arabia to meet MBS and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Sources told Haaretz that the overnight meeting took place in Neom, a flagship megaproject being built on the Red Sea, and that Mossad chief Yossi Cohen was also in attendance.
Campaigners and rights groups have condemned Biden’s decision to visit Saudi Arabia after he was fiercely critical of the kingdom prior to his election as president, during which time he called for the country to be made a “pariah” state and said there was “little social redeeming value in the present government”.