Israel’s military censors allowed local media outlets to report this week that Israel's leader had flown to Saudi Arabia and met there with senior officials. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Nov. 22 with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a meeting arranged by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The censors would not have approved the news for publication without a green light from the office of the prime minister. Nonetheless, when Netanyahu was asked about it hours after the report surfaced at a meeting of his Likud party’s Knesset faction in Jerusalem, he said, “Over the years I have never addressed such things and I am not about to start doing it now.” His office declined to confirm the reports and his media adviser deleted the tweet he had posted hours earlier, broadly hinting at the secret visit.

Several developments appear to have occurred on the Riyadh-Washington-Jerusalem axis between the morning hours of Nov. 23, when the reports emerged, and Netanyahu’s coy response that afternoon. The Saudis may have been unhappy with the leak about the meeting or the sides might have agreed in advance on only semi-official public acknowledgement of the event, with no photo ops and fanfare. One thing is certain: The leadership in Riyadh is not ready yet for official, open relations with Israel or other normalization measures, still insisting on significant progress in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. It may come around in the future.

In the meantime, the Saudis got what they wanted — a closing of the ranks with Netanyahu, which together with their Muslim Sunni allies form a broad anti-Iran coalition ahead of the changing of the guard at the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department.

“Netanyahu is going to lose Trump, indeed,” a senior Israeli security source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “But Israel still enjoys broad support in Washington. The Saudis believe that positioning themselves alongside the Israelis in facing [Biden’s pick for Secretary of State] Tony Blinken and the other professionals Biden is naming to key spots in his administration is the right thing to do. It may give them a sense of security or provide a display of power.” Still, another Israeli official expressed doubt about this analysis, telling Al-Monitor also on condition of anonymity that “meeting with Pompeo is not the way to turn a new page with Biden’s administration. Biden’s people won’t appreciate this last-minute move.”