Israeli minister publicly confirms contacts with Saudi Arabia amid growing threat from Iran

[Swordsmyth]

maybe this belongs here too?



Revelations of a security relationship, which analysts have said would require the prior permission of both countries’ leaderships, will likely irk citizens of the oil-rich monarchy.

Yes, Israel may be trying to bring down the UAE as well.

[Swordsmyth]

A new bombshell report in the Jerusalem Post confirms that Israel and Saudi Arabia's somewhat "quiet" but growing security relationship is far more extensive than previously thought, as it now includes a $250 million weapons deal.
This is unprecedented as the two nations still don't even have official diplomatic relations, as the kingdom has yet to officially recognize the state of Israel, but continue a close behind the scenes alliance based on intelligence sharing especially in places like Syria or even Yemen in order to "counter Iran".
According to the Jerusalem Post report:

Saudi Arabia and Israel held secret meetings which led to an estimated $250-million deal, including the transfer of Israeli espionage technologies to the kingdom, Israeli media reported on Sunday, citing an exclusive report by the United Arab Emirate news website Al-Khaleej.

The report goes on to describe the spy systems as "the most sophisticated systems Israel has ever sold to any Arab country" and notes they've already been transferred to Saudi Arabia, where a Saudi technical team will undergo training to operate them.

Lending credibility to the report are prior recent revelations in September that Saudi Arabia had purchased Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system amidst its ongoing war with Houthi rebels in Yemen, which have resulted in several short to medium range ballistic missile attacks on the kingdom over the past year.


This latest revelation of the transfer of $250m in sophisticated spy equipment is part of a broader trend in closer Saudi-Israeli "secret" relations which will only continue so long as both see the United States as "not doing enough" to thwart Iranian expansion in the region.
However, the timing of the alleged transfer of Israeli espionage equipment is especially especially interesting as well as alarming, given that news of it comes just as Riyadh has been exposed as spying on and murdering journalists, activists, and dissidents even as they reside in foreign countries.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...-arabia-report

[goldenequity]

maybe this belongs here too?


Israeli-owned security firm to secure oil and gas installations in the UAE as well as to set up a globally unique civil surveillance network in Abu Dhabi that means
“every person is monitored from the moment they leave their doorstep to the moment they return to it,”
Falcon Eye: The Israeli-installed mass civil surveillance system of Abu Dhabi
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/u...nce-2104952769

“It sounds like Sci-Fi but it is happening today in Abu Dhabi”
The Internet of Things applies unique identifiers to objects, or in the case of Abu Dhabi, people to be followed, and provides large amounts of data on all aspects of an individual’s movements and activities based on the surveillance equipment used.

The UAE does not recognise Israel as a state and the two countries do not officially have any diplomatic or economic relations.
Revelations of a security relationship, which analysts have said would require the prior permission of both countries’ leaderships, will likely irk citizens of the oil-rich monarchy.
In December, MEE revealed details of a secret jet being flown between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi....
Israeli entrepreneur Mati Kochavi is at the heart of Israeli security trade in the UAE and is the one commissioning the private jet and has become an “almost constant visitor of Abu Dhabi”.
Kochavi, according to Haaretz, lives in the United States and made a “fortune” in the property market before becoming involved in homeland security after the 11 September 2001 attacks in New York.
more: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/u...nce-2104952769

launched today...
KhalifaSat: UAE HiRes Imaging Satellite - Government 'Use'

[Swordsmyth]

Israel's sport and communications ministers have made unrelated visits to the United Arab Emirates after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Oman last week in the latest sign of burgeoning ties between Israel and countries in the Persian Gulf, Bloomberg reported Oct. 28.

The increased pace of high-level visits from senior Israeli officials reflects a growing willingness among Gulf countries to publicize their ties with Israel. Building up economic, political or social ties with Israel still risks creating domestic backlash for Gulf states, but governments in the region are increasingly pursuing these relationships to gain lucrative business opportunities and strategic military partnerships.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ab-gulf-states

[Swordsmyth]

Israel's Muslim citizens will no longer be allowed to use temporary Jordanian passports to enter Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj in December, Haaretz reported Nov. 7. The new rule will affect 1 million Muslims living in Israel that were permitted to travel to Saudi Arabia even though Israel does not have diplomatic relations with Riyadh.

This announcement could be a precursor to Saudi Arabia exploring the option of allowing Israeli Muslims to visit the kingdom on their Israeli passports for the first time. Such a decision would be a significant change in Saudi Arabia's relations with Israel and a notable step toward formal recognition.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ims-visit-hajj

[Swordsmyth]

Oman will let Israeli planes fly through its airspace, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday, in another sign of his country's efforts toward ties with Arab states despite the conflict with the Palestinians.The announcement follows Netanyahu's surprise visit to Oman in October. Only two Arab countries -- Jordan and Egypt -- officially recognise Israel.
"When I was in Oman I spoke with Sultan Qaboos, who told me El Al would be able to fly over Oman," Netanyahu said.
The permission however provides Israel with little immediate practical use since its planes cannot fly over Oman's neighbour Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia in March began allowing Air India flights between New Delhi and Tel Aviv to use its airspace, but not Israeli carriers.


Speaking with Israeli diplomats in an annual conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu claimed that unspecified Arab leaders do not wish to condition their "normalisation with Israel" on resolving the conflict with the Palestinians.
"This doesn't mean peace agreements (with Arab states) yet, but it certainly means that our progress toward normalisation and peace, instead of what we always thought -- from peace with the Palestinians to the Arab world -- could happen in the opposite direction," he said.
Israel has made headway in recent months in its efforts towards ties with Arab nations in the Gulf that do not officially recognise the country, including through sport.
In October, Israeli Sports Minister Miri Regev toured the UAE's famed Sheikh Zayed mosque, Israel's communications minister delivered a speech in Dubai and the Israeli national anthem was played at a judo competition in Abu Dhabi.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/oman-allows-i...161001833.html

[Swordsmyth]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Arab countries viewed Israel as an "indispensable ally" fighting Iran and the Islamic State group.That evaluation, he told Brazil's Globo TV during a visit to Rio, has caused "a revolution in relations with the Arab world."


Asked if he could ever contemplate sitting down with an Iranian leader to talk peace, Netanyahu replied: "If Iran remains committed to our destruction the answer is no."
The only way, he said, would be "if Iran undergoes a total transformation."

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-say...041636015.html

[Swordsmyth]

Army’s Long-Awaited Iraq War Study Finds Iran Was the Only Winner

[Swordsmyth]

The ex-Saudi Intelligence Chief Turki Al-Faisal this weekend revealed that secret relations between Israel and a number of Gulf states date back as far as 25 years.
According to Qatari newspaper Al-Arab, Al-Faisal was interviewed by Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, who claims to have conducted interviews with 20 prominent Gulf officials with knowledge of secret relations with Israel. However, many of these people refused to speak to the camera, Israel’s Channel 13 reported.
Ravid said that Al-Faisal – who had spoken several times to Israeli media and criticised the Palestinian resistance – agreed to speak to a programme called “The Secrets of the Gulf”, which explores the secret relations between Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar.


Israeli TV aired only two minutes of the interview, which is planned to be aired fully as a series. In these two minutes, Al-Faisal referred to the Israel-Palestine situation as the “Palestinian issue or solving the conflict,” instead of terms used by the Arab states such as the “Arab-Israeli conflict,” which is mentioned in the Arab Peace Initiative formulated by Saudi Arabia.
In the series, Ravid claims he will reveal information about a “world of economic, political and military relations” between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He adds that most Israelis do not know about these relations, as they are being run by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, together with Israel’s national intelligence agency Mossad.

More at: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20...udi-relations/

[goldenequity]

The Israel lobby donates to the majority of politicians, spending money on 269 House representatives’ & 57 senators’ campaigns in 2018
https://www.rt.com/usa/451583-israel...ons-influence/

(This is real meddling, not some Twitter advertisements with kittens...)

[Swordsmyth]

Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash called for better relations with Israel during an interview, The National reported March 27.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...lations-israel

[Swordsmyth]

Iran’s Jewish Rulers

[Swordsmyth]

Saudi diplomat says the age of war with Israel is over

[Swordsmyth]

Representatives of Israeli and Gulf Arab businesses have been openly mingling and networking at the U.S.-backed "Peace to Prosperity" conference in Bahrain on Middle East peace, which continued June 26 for its second day. Israel's largest newspaper, Israel Hayom, dubbed Bahrain the "island of hope." Haaretz correspondents were given a tour of Manama's only prominent synagogue, and correspondents from The Times of Israel have noted that they were given the status of "delegates" thanks to their connection to Israel, something that surprised them — and something not extended to Arab colleagues from countries like Jordan and Egypt.

While the conference will struggle to establish a tangible and practical peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, it is putting on display softening attitudes toward Israel among Arab Gulf states. Common political aims regarding Iran and the waning pertinence of the Palestinian plight are driving this dynamic.

Israeli journalists haven't been officially invited to Bahrain in 25 years; their presence in Manama testifies to shifting attitudes of elites in Arab Gulf states regarding the utility and pragmatism of ties with Israel.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ity-conference

[Swordsmyth]

Bahrain's foreign minister has said Israel is part of the region's heritage and the Jewish people have "a place amongst us" in a rare interview of an Arab official by an Israeli journalist.The interview -- on the sidelines of the US-organised economic conference in Bahrain, intended to kickstart the White House's Middle East peace plan -- was broadcast late Wednesday on Israel's Channel 13 television.
Bahrain's Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa said the interview was his "first with an Israeli media channel, and let's hope that we can get the message through."
"Israel is part of this heritage of this whole region, historically, so the Jewish people have a place amongst us," he said.
"That's why it's so important and we didn't want to miss this opportunity, and I want to tell them we should talk."
Khalifa's comments on rapprochement with Israel were unusually strong for an Arab official.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/bahrain-fm-sa...095450852.html

[Swordsmyth]

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Thursday announced that he had met his Bahrain counterpart publicly during a visit to Washington, the first meeting between the two countries that do not have diplomatic relations."Yesterday I met publicly with the Foreign Minister of Bahrain" Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Katz said in a tweet.
Referring to Benjamin Netanyahu, Katz added: "I will continue to work with (the Israeli Prime Minister) to advance Israel's relations with the Gulf countries."
Israel has diplomatic relations with only two Arab countries -- Egypt and Jordan -- but common concerns over Iran have brought it closer to Gulf nations in recent years.
In a photograph accompanying the tweet the two foreign ministers appear side by side, smiling.
According to an Israeli Foreign Ministry statement, the "meeting was coordinated behind the scenes by the US State Department as part of a conference on religious liberty organised in Washington by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo".

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/israeli-bahra...220549658.html

[Swordsmyth]

Israel received surprising support from Bahrain’s Foreign Minister, who backed the Jewish state’s retaliatory strikes in Lebanon after the Hezbollah terror organization attacked IDF targets on Sunday, blaming Lebanon for the situation.
By Aryeh Savir, TPS
“The aggression of one state against another is prohibited by international law. A state standing by, watching battles taking place on its borders and putting its people in danger is a state that greatly neglects its responsibilities,” Minister Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa tweeted.
He further said that “it is unacceptable for Lebanon to be put in a situation of a possibility of a devastating war in which it has no glory or use.”
Bahrain further urged its citizens to leave Lebanon “immediately” after Hezbollah’s attack on Israel, “given the events and developments in the country that require everyone to take precautions.”


Khalifa has previously displayed public support for Israel and expressed a desire for improved relations with the Jewish state in general.
Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Yisrael Katz met publicly with al-Khalifa at the State Department in Washington in July.

More at: https://unitedwithisrael.org/arab-st...ah-in-lebanon/

[Swordsmyth]

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Sunday he was seeking "non-aggression" agreements with Gulf Arab nations that do not formally recognise the country as a prelude to possible future peace deals.Details of the proposal were not made public, but it was the latest sign of Israel's push to improve ties with Gulf Arab nations with whom it has no formal diplomatic relations.
Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory has long served as a major factor preventing peace deals with Arab countries, but common concerns over Iran are widely seen as having brought them closer in recent years.
"Recently, I have been promoting, under the backing of the United States, a political initiative to sign 'non-aggression agreements' with the Arab Gulf states," Katz wrote on Twitter.
"The historic move will put an end to the conflict and allow civilian cooperation until peace agreements are signed."
Katz said he discussed the initiative with unnamed Arab foreign ministers and US President Donald Trump's outgoing envoy Jason Greenblatt while attending the UN General Assembly in late September.
A spokesman for Katz declined to provide further details for now, and it was not clear how much progress he has made in the endeavour.
Only two Arab countries -- Jordan and Egypt -- have peace treaties with Israel, but there have been overt signs in recent months of improved relations with Gulf nations.
A year ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held surprise talks with Oman's Sultan Qaboos in Muscat.
Katz in July said he had met his Bahraini counterpart publicly for the first time during a visit to Washington.
In late June, a group of Israeli journalists attended the US-led economic conference on Israeli-Palestinian peace in Bahrain.
All did not go well, however, when a group of invitees from Arab states visited Israel in July.
Palestinians hurled abuse and chairs at a member of the delegation -- a Saudi blogger -- as he visited east Jerusalem's Old City.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/israeli-minis...115922480.html