Israel says hoped-for direct Haj flights to Saudi Arabia won’t happen now

Israel said on Monday that hoped-for direct flights to Saudi Arabia for the Haj pilgrimage would not happen this year, and played down any prospects of an imminent US-mediated normalisation of relations with Riyadh.

Reuters reported regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia gave its quiet assent to Gulf neighbours United Arab Emirates and Bahrain forging ties with Israel in 2020. But it has held off on following suit, saying Palestinian statehood goals should be addressed first.

Still, Israeli and US officials had predicted that the kingdom, home to Islam’s two holiest sites, might as a goodwill gesture let members of Israel’s 18 per cent Muslim minority fly in directly for this year’s Haj.

Riyadh never formally offered that, however.

With the pilgrimage now imminent — June 25 to July 2 — and Israel’s Transport Ministry reporting no airlines applying to run special flights to Saudi destinations, a top aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged they would not happen.

“Perhaps for the next Haj we will be in a position to help in this matter, and [direct] flights will depart from here,” National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi told Kan radio. “But it’s too early to say.”

The Biden administration has described Israeli-Saudi normalisation as a US national security interest.

It is also a major foreign-policy goal of Netanyahu, who regained power in December at the head of a hard-right government pledging to close ranks with Arab powers that share Israel’s worries about Iran.