Could Saudia Arabia and Pakistan soon recognise Israel?

Mohammed bin Salman and Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting – albeit denied by Riyadh – shows it is surely only a matter of time before Saudi Arabia and Israel formalise their covert relations. 

Israel’s recent peace deals with Bahrain and the UAE could not have materialised without Saudi backing. MBS is also arm-twisting Pakistan to help ‘normalise normalisation’ by extending the Muslim world’s recognition of Israel to South Asia. Such political manoeuvrings are not isolated; they are accompanied by religious rationale for Muslim-majority states to establish relations with the Jewish state. 

The imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca Abdulrahman al-Sudais, used a sermon in September to preach the need for kindness and dialogue with Jews. Earlier this year, Saudi cleric and Muslim World League secretary general Muhammad bin Abdul Karim al-Issa visited Auschwitz. On this unprecedented trip to Poland, he condemned the denial of Holocaust, saying ‘this must never happen again’. Al-Issa also delivered a message of ‘religions standing together’ and said ‘combating anti-Semitism (is) a religious duty’ for Muslims.