2LT International News

DUBAI, UAE – Israel has been selling spying equipment and espionage technology to Saudi Arabia, according to Israeli media citing the Arabic-news website Al Khaleej, which is based in the United Arab Emirates.

Covert meetings between the two countries, reports said, have resulted in deals worth an estimated $250 million.

Israel has also been training Saudi operatives in the use of the equipment and technology, the reports said

The Al Khaleej report, according to The Jerusalem Post, said meetings between Israel and Saudi Arabia that facilitated the deals on espionage technology took place in Washington DC and London. The report said the two countries exchanged strategic military information at the meetings.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has often spoken of covert contacts his government has been having with Arab countries, which if details were known, it would surprise people he has said.

Last month Al-Khaleej reported that Saudi Arabia had bought Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system to defend the country from Houthi missile attacks.

The report said the deal was brokered by the United States which it said was trying to broaden strategic military cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, according to The Jerusalem Post, met with his counterparts from several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia’s Chief of Staff Gen. Fayyad bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili, two weeks ago while in Washington DC for the Countering Violent Extremist Organizations Conference for military commanders.

Last November, following the Israeli official’s first initial attendance at the conference, Eisenkot offered to share Israeli intelligence about Iran with Riyadh, telling the Saudi newspaper Elaph in an unprecedented interview that what he heard from the Saudis about Iranian expansion was “identical” to Israeli concerns, the ‘Post report said.

Elsewhere, on Saturday Oman’s foreign minister, speaking at a security conference in Manama, the Bahrain capital, said it was time Israel was recognised by Arab countries.

The statement caused a stir, particularly following the highly publicised visit of a high-profile delegation from Israel to Muscat on Friday, which included the Israeli prime minister, the head of Mossad and the director of Israel’s foreign affairs ministry.

“Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this. The world is also aware of this fact. Maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same as others states and also bear the same obligations,” Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the sultanate’s minister responsible for foreign affairs told the Bahrain conference on Saturday.

“We are not saying that the road is now easy and paved with flowers, but our priority is to put an end to the conflict and move to a new world,” he said.