MAKE DIRECT FLIGHTS GREAT AGAIN: Nobody Flies From Saudi Arabia to Israel. Nobody. Trump Just Did.
The two nations have no diplomatic relations. Travelers can’t fly from one country to the other. Planes can’t even fly through the other’s airspace.
In order to travel from one nation to the other requires travelers to take what many call a “cleansing stop.” Often, flyers go to Amman, Jordan, or Cairo, Egypt, before heading on. And travelers who stop in Israel before heading to Saudi Arabia often ask Israeli officials not to stamp their passports (Saudis authorities get visibly unhappy when they see the stamp). Some frequent fliers even have an extra passport so they can keep one clear of the Israeli stamp.
That’s what makes President Trump’s itinerary so interesting. He made Saudi Arabia his first stop, which no doubt greatly pleased the Saudi royal family. Then he flew from Riyadh directly to Tel Aviv, which no doubt made them furious.
In fact, the flight may well have been the first in history from Saudi Arabia to Israel, the Associated Press reported.
Despite what Joseph Curl says here, Saudi Arabia and Israel get along better than their diplomatic status and lack of niceties would indicate, albeit behind the scenes:
“The biggest enemy for both countries is Iran, and there are also the radical terrorist groups like ISIS [Islamic State] that threaten the regional order in the Middle East,” Yaari said. “It is this overall framework that has created the conditions for cooperation between Jerusalem and Riyadh.”
Despite this convergence of interests, Israeli-Saudi cooperation will likely remain hush-hush as long as the Zionist-Arab conflict remains unresolved , Yaari said.
“We need to remember that even if there are ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, it’s only behind the scenes, behind closed doors, since Saudi Arabia can never launch a bilateral peace process with Israel,” she said.
And as recently as February, “Iran blasts cooperation between Israel, Saudi Arabia.”
It seems more likely then that Riyadh, Jerusalem, and Washington orchestrated Trump’s direct flight in order to send a message to Tehran.