Don’t be surprised if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Saudi Arabia soon to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The Trump administration has worked for nearly two years to get Riyadh and Jerusalem openly working together. Mohammed loves risk and is eager to turn the page from Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Middle East trip this week seems choreographed for a finale starring the crown prince.
The US stage managers are in place: National Security Adviser John Bolton landed in Israel on Saturday, Pompeo arrives tomorrow in Amman, Jordan, the first of eight Arab capitals he’ll visit in as many days.
He plans to deliver a major speech in Cairo and visit Riyadh early next week.
Pompeo’s trip is intended to underscore that far from fading out of the Middle East, the US is leading a broad coalition against Iran. The linchpins of the effort are Israel and Saudi Arabia, which share a fear of Iranian expansionism and are the closest US allies in the region. They have maintained informal but not-so-secret contacts, sharing intelligence on their common nemesis.
Why not make it official?
Netanyahu and Mohammed meeting would be a capstone of the Trump administration’s effort to isolate and contain Iran. The so-called Arab Street’s indifference to the US embassy’s move to Jerusalem is said to have given the crown prince the confidence to take his relationship with Israel public at the right time.
On a more political level, it would divert public and media attention from problems besetting each of the three leaders involved.
Read the article by Karen Elliott House in The Australian (from The Wall Street Journal).