Israel Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi spoke today on the phone with his Omani counterpart, Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah. The rare phone call focused on the Israeli-United Arab Emirates (UAE) normalization accord, announced Aug. 13, and other recent regional developments. After the phone call, Ashkenazi tweeted, "We spoke about recent developments in the region, the normalization agreement with the United Arab Emirates and the need to strengthen relations between Israel and Oman." He added, "The Omani Foreign Minister emphasized the strong stance of the Sultan and his [support for] achieving of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East as well as the need to resume peace negotiations."

Relations between Israel and Oman had warmed up in recent years, and especially since 2018 when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, visited Muscat and met with Sultan Qaboos. The phone call today might indicate that Oman would be next in line for establishing diplomatic ties with Israel.

Yesterday, Israel's Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen said that Bahrain and Oman could soon follow the UAE in recognizing the State of Israel. “In the wake of this agreement will come additional agreements, both with more Gulf countries and with Muslim countries in Africa. I think that Bahrain and Oman are definitely on the agenda. In addition, in my assessment, there is a chance that already in the coming year there will be a peace deal with additional countries in Africa, chief among them Sudan,’’ said Cohen.

As a reminder, in February 2000 Netanyahu met in Uganda with Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan's Sovereign Council. Since then, other senior Sudanese officials have made positive statements on Israel, though renewal of relations has not been announced yet.