In a diplomatic breakthrough signaling a once-unthinkable warming of ties, the head of Israel’s tourism minister traveled to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for a conference, marking the first open visit of an Israeli Cabinet official to the kingdom.
Tourism Minister Haim Katz’s two-day trip to Saudi Arabia will focus on tourism concerns as the industry continues to recover from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the larger significance of the trip is that it accelerates an ongoing, U.S.-backed effort to normalize relations between Israel and the richest and most powerful of the Gulf Arab nations that have long refused to deal with the Jewish state.
Washington has long urged Israel and Saudi Arabia — both crucial allies of the United States —to normalize relations, similar to other U.S.-brokered initiatives with the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Bahrain begun under the Trump administration.
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