JERUSALEM/RIYADH - Saudi Arabia on Monday denied Israeli media reports of landmark talks between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

“I have seen press reports about a purported meeting between HRH the Crown Prince and Israeli officials during the recent visit by @SecPompeo,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said in a tweet.

“No such meeting occurred. The only officials present were American and Saudi.”

But an Israeli government official said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held his first ever known meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday. The claim was swiftly denied by Riyadh’s top diplomat.

Speaking on Israel’s Army Radio on Monday, Education Minister Yoav Gallant called the covert meeting, which reportedly took place in the Saudi city of Neom, an “incredible achievement” and congratulated Netanyahu.

 

“Let’s say that the very existence of the meeting, the fact that it was put out publicly, even if it’s half official at the moment, is a matter of great importance from any aspect and matter,” a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, when asked about the Sunday meeting, CNN reported Monday.

 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was also in Neom at the same time meeting with bin Salman as part of his tour of the Middle East. Several Israeli news organizations reported that Pompeo also took part in the meeting.

 

State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Cale Brown declined to comment to the pool traveling with Pompeo on the reports. The only meeting listed on his public schedule was one with the Saudi Crown Prince, which was closed to the press. Pompeo took no questions from the traveling press pool during the entire 10-day trip across Europe and the Middle East.

 

The Israeli government has not commented on the meeting, which has been reported by several Israeli news outlets, but there has been no official denial either. Netanyahu was joined by Mossad head Yossi Cohen, who has spearheaded the normalization efforts between Israel and the Sunni Gulf states, according to the Israeli reports.

 

A private business jet often used by Israeli officials was tracked flying in a highly unusual route from Israel toward Saudi Arabia and the city of Neom on Sunday, according to flight tracking websites ADS-B Exchange, FlightAware, and others. The flight returned to Israel a few hours later.

 

The meeting, if confirmed, would be the first of its kind between the Israeli Prime Minister and the Saudi Crown Prince, and it comes just months after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalized relations with Israel. Bahrain almost certainly had tacit Saudi approval for the move, given the tiny kingdom’s reliance and closeness to Saudi Arabia, analysts have said.

 

Amos Yadlin, the executive director of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, suggested that such a meeting would represent a chance for Pompeo to promote the legacy of the Trump administration and try to advance additional normalization agreements with an eye to running for the White House in 2024. Perhaps more importantly, Yadlin said the three sides here were likely working against Iran in unison and planning what moves to make before a Biden administration takes office and pursues a nuclear agreement with Iran.

Pompeo and the Trump administration have put huge pressure on the Saudis to normalize relations with Israel, a senior Saudi diplomat told CNN.

 

Even in the waning days of Trump’s time in office, Pompeo -- who has yet to acknowledge Joe Biden’s victory in the elections -- has pressed forward, urging more countries to normalize ties with Israel. Before arriving in Saudi Arabia, Pompeo was in Qatar, another country high on the White House’s list for normalization with Israel.

 

“I believe in all my heart that the Trump administration policies that we have set up created the conditions for those leaders to make exactly that decision, and if they do, it will be a glorious thing for the region,” Pompeo told the Jerusalem Post during his stop in Israel. “The people of these countries will be better off, [with] more prosperity and opportunity.”