JERUSALEM – On the tarmac of Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his hope to President Donald Trump that one day an Israeli head of government will be able to visit Saudi Arabia.
“Mr. President, you just flew from Riyadh to Tel Aviv,” Netanyahu told Trump at the airport ceremony marking the president’s arrival in Israel. “I hope that one day an Israeli prime minister can fly from Tel Aviv to Riyadh.”
Netanyahu praised Trump for delivering “a forceful speech on terrorism and extremism,” in which he “called on forces of civilization to confront the forces of barbarism” during his visit to the Gulf kingdom.
“For 69 years, Israel has been doing just that,” Netanyahu continued. “We’ve manned the front lines of civilization.”
“In doing so we’ve protected all faiths, Muslims, Christians, everyone,” Netanyahu said.
“Israel’s hand is extended in peace to all our neighbors, including the Palestinians,” Netanyahu continued. “The peace we seek is a genuine one, in which the Jewish state is recognized, security remains in Israel’s hands, and the conflict ends once and for all.”
Trump said that during his visit to Saudi Arabia, he met with King Salman and “reached a historic agreement to pursue greater and greater [cooperation] against terrorism.”
On Sunday, Breitbart Jerusalem reported that several Israeli journalists with American citizenship were refused visas for Saudi Arabia despite having received approval to travel on the press plane accompanying Air Force One to the Gulf state.
One of them, Channel 10’s Gil Tamary, noted that the move runs counter to the increasingly popular view that the kingdom’s hostility toward Israel is thawing. “Everyone is saying that the Saudis are changing, but when a reporter for an Israeli outlet wants to join the U.S. president’s press corps, he is not allowed on the plane,” he said.