Bennett sketches path for Israeli-Saudi normalization
Having scored diplomatic achievements with Egypt, the Emirates and even Turkey, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett views Saudi Arabia as a jewel in the crown of normalization with the Arab world.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s successful visit to the UAE Dec. 13 completes a series of foreign policy moves since he took office in mid-June.
They began with the emergency repairs to Israel’s broken-down relations with Jordan’s King Abdullah, continued with restoring trust with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah a-Sisi in a Sept. 13 meeting in Sharm al-Sheikh, a significant upgrading of relations with Morocco (with which Defense Minister Benny Gantz signed a security alliance at the end November), Israeli involvement in efforts to restore calm in post-coup Sudan, a significant deepening of relations with Bahrain and even the beginning of a surprising if not yet substantive conciliation in Israel's chaotic relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
