Factors of Saudi-Israeli rapprochement under the auspices of Bin Salman

French news agency AFP revealed on Friday that the Saudi official who visited Israel last September was Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman; a disclosure that is of great importance and has long-term significance.

An Israeli official, as quoted by the agency, confirmed the identity of the Saudi guest, which comes in light of a lot of indicators that there is a dramatic development in the relationship between Riyadh and Tel Aviv.

The confirmation of the visit came after hints were made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there is an “unprecedented” development in the relationship between his entity and “Arab states that do not have relations with Israel”, which was broadly understood to mean specifically Gulf States and mainly Saudi Arabia.

Western and Israeli media have pointed out many aspects that reflect the development of secret relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, including: political and security cooperation, and exchange of visits of executives on both sides.

According to some Israeli and Western media, former Mossad intelligence chief Meir Dagan and his predecessor, Tamir Pardo, visited Riyadh and held meetings with Saudi officials. The media also revealed that a visit to Tel Aviv was made by Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, former head of Saudi intelligence in 2006, where he held a meeting with former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

In addition, officials and princes of the Saudi royal family did not hesitate to engage in open normalization activities with Israel.

Read: Israel’s normalization efforts soar against the public’s wishes

The former Saudi intelligence chief, Turki Al-Faisal, met several times with former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and participated in media programs and interviews with the former National Security Advisor to Netanyahu, General Yaakov Amidror, and former head of the Israeli intelligence division Amos Yadlin .

On the sidelines of a security conference held in Germany in 2015, Al-Faisal also shook hands with Israeli Minister of War Moshe Ya’alon. He developed an intimate relationship with the Israeli Foreign Minister, Dore Gold, although he was considered the most prominent Israeli figure to incite against Saudi Arabia as he is the author of “The Kingdom of Evil” which is full of incitement against the Kingdom, referring to it as a “hotbed of terrorism”.

Saudi’s normalization activities reached a peak during the visit of a delegation contracting Saudi elites led by retired Major General Anwar Eshki to Israel last year who met with a number of political and military officials in Tel Aviv.

The Saudi-Israeli rapprochement is due to a number of factors, some of which are linked to the convergence of interests between the two sides, and others are linked to considerations of Prince Mohammed Bin Salman personally. These factors include:

The convergence of interests in addressing the Iranian nuclear program, which stimulated political coordination between Tel Aviv and Riyadh, in response to the disappointment of both sides in the way former US President Barack Obama deal with this file.