Against the background of the opening of Saudi airspace to Israeli flights, in the shadow of President Biden’s visit over the weekend, it was revealed today (Sunday) that several months ago, the Israeli chief of staff flew over Saudi Arabia, with the approval of the Saudis.
The details were revealed by the IDF Spokesman, Brigadier General Ran Kochav, in an interview with i24NEWS. According to him, on Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi’s flight to Bahrain last March, Kochavi flew over Saudi Arabia.
During the interview, he said that he could not reveal the full picture of security relations with the giant country in the Middle East, which does not have public relations with Israel.
“We will continue to cooperate as much as possible,” the IDF spokesman said, stressing that the Iranians are a common enemy of both Israel and Saudi Arabia. Of Biden, that Iran will never be nuclear, “he said.
In an interview with News 12 this week, on the occasion of his visit, US President Biden referred to what was happening in the Israeli-Saudi sector. “Normalization can take a long time,” the president of the United States said. “But deepening the relationship in the sense of mutual acceptance in the sense of working together on all sorts of things, it makes sense to me,” he said.
He added: “The big picture is this – some thought, because of the previous administration, that we abandoned the Middle East, thought that we created a vacuum that China and / or Russia would fill, and that this should not be allowed to happen … Second, the more Israel is integrated and accepted in the region. A way to reach agreements with the Palestinians later. “
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Yair Lapid referred to Saudi Arabia’s announcement of the opening of the skies to Israeli flights and said: “After a long and secret road, and intense diplomacy with Saudi Arabia and the United States, we are getting up this morning for good news. The Saudi aviation network has announced the opening of airspace to Israeli airlines. “
“This decision was preceded by the signing of the” Jerusalem Declaration “and the deepening of the American commitment to Israel’s security, to the struggle against the Iranian nuclear program, to the deepening of normalization and to the processes of the Abrahamic Pact and the Negev Summit,” Lapid wrote.
He thanked Biden and said, “I want to thank US President Joe Biden for a visit that moved an entire country. For his commitment to Israel’s military and political power. I wish him success at the Jeddah summit. “
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“I congratulate the Saudi leadership on opening up the airspace. This is a first step. We will continue to work on it with the necessary caution, for the benefit of the Israeli economy, Israeli security and the citizens of Israel,” the prime minister concluded.
A statement from the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority said: “As part of Saudi Arabia’s diligence in fulfilling its obligations under the 1944 Chicago Convention, which stipulates that civilian flights must not be distinguished in international airspace and further efforts to establish Saudi Arabia’s status as a global father connecting three continents. “The international air connection, the Civil Aviation Authority announces that it has decided to open the kingdom’s sky to all flights that meet the authority’s requirements for passage in the kingdom’s airspace.”
Israel’s name was not explicitly stated, but it was the same after the normalization with the Emirates, when the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority announced that it would allow more than all flights to and from the Emirates.
The direct implication is to significantly shorten flights from Israel to several countries, so the flight to India will be shortened by about two and a half hours, the flight to Bangkok will be shortened by about three hours, the flight to Australia will be shortened by about four hours. Over time, this also means a reduction in the cost of flights to airlines, which should also lead to a reduction in consumer prices in the end.