Saudi Lobbyist In DC Calls For ‘Collaborative Alliance’ With Israel

TEL AVIV – A Saudi Arabian lobbyist in the U.S. has called for “a collaborative alliance” between the Kingdom and Israel, citing “an historic opportunity” that would benefit both countries economically as well as improve relations in the entire region.  

Salman al-Ansari, president of the recently founded Saudi American Public Relations Affairs Committee in Washington DC, wrote in The Hill on Tuesday that normalizing relations with Israel will “promote security and weaken extremism in the region.”

Israel, Ansari noted, is “one of the most sophisticated and technologically advanced countries in the field of mining,” as well as being “a world leader in the water engineering industry” making it “extraordinarily qualified to help Saudi Arabia with its ambitious desalination plans.”

Even though the two nations have no diplomatic ties, there have been several indicators over recent months that relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem have significantly thawed.

In August, Saudi Arabia launched a media campaign to combat anti-Semitism, paving the way for public opinion to accept the kingdom’s burgeoning ties with Israel.

A month before, a Saudi delegation visited the Jewish state and met with top officials.

Ansari, who has more than 100,000 Twitter followers, said he founded SAPRAC to enhance relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Ansari said that mutual threats, especially those posed by the “totalitarian government” in Iran, could serve as a basis for future relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

He urged U.S. leaders to imagine a world in which Israel and Saudi Arabia would serve as “the new twin pillars of regional stability.” Doing so would mean the U.S. would be free to foster social and economic development in the region.

Ansari argued that normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel would also constitute normalization between Arabs and Muslims and the Jewish state, and that a partnership between the two countries would usher in a “new era of unprecedented peace and prosperity.”