Mossad Chief Indicates Saudis Could Join Nations Normalizing Ties With Israel

The head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency indicated in an interview aired Wednesday that Saudi Arabia could be in line to normalize ties with Israel following landmark peace agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, while refusing to comment on whether he had met with the rulers of the Arab kingdom.

Yossi Cohen has been cited as a key figure in the US-sponsored Abraham Accords with Abu Dhabi and Manama, signed at a festive White House ceremony Tuesday. Cohen reportedly shuttled to Gulf states on numerous secretive journeys in recent years to build closer clandestine ties with Arab nations.

Cohen told Channel 12 news the accords signified “the breaking of a glass ceiling that existed in our relations with Arab states.” He said the move to formalize ties was achieved through long years of “contacts managed very very delicately.” Cohen said that regional concerns over Iran’s “imperialist” aspirations played a key role in the Gulf nations’ decisions to break with decades of Arab policy not to recognize the Jewish state so long as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains unresolved. -Full Report