"Palestine solidarity activists in Saudi Arabia and neighboring Gulf states are expressing outrage after a Saudi delegation visited Israel to meet with senior officials.
The group BDS Gulf said that the visit by academics and businesspersons, led by former Saudi general Anwar Eskhi, “is the newest episode in the ongoing Saudi normalization [with Israel], whose pace has increased in recent years and which has been openly led by such public figures as Eshki and former intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal.”
The visit is all the more shameful, coinciding as it does with the second anniversary of Israel’s 51-day summer 2014 assault on Gaza that killed more than 2,200 Palestinians, BDS Gulf stated.
Eshki has held numerous senior posts, including as an advisor to Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to the US. The general now heads a “strategic studies” think tank in Saudi Arabia.
News of the visit generated harsh criticism from Saudi and Gulf commentators and social media users.
Eshki tried at first to deny the visit. After that failed, Eshki claimed he went in response to a Palestinian invitation, seeking to revive the Saudi-sponsored Arab Peace Initiative.
But the visit is a sign of a warming relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel founded on their mutual hostility towards Iran, especially since the latter’s rapprochement with the United States and Europe following last year’s deal over its nuclear energy program."
PS It has to be said that Saudis took great risks in expressing their outrage on social media against the visit by this Eshki guy to Israeli government.
