The pilot of the Arkia Airlines plane that was carrying the President Israel, Isaac Herzog flying over the skies of Saudi Arabia. He also greeted the ATC officers: “Assalamualaikum”.
The pilot conveyed warm greetings to Saudi Arabian ATC officers as he flew from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv on Tuesday (6/12). Of course, the salute was in the public spotlight.
This moment was captured on one of the Israeli television broadcasts, Channel 12. The broadcast reporter also uploaded a short video from the cockpit containing the pilot’s conversation with traffic control officers in Jeddah.
“Jedda, hello Aleikum!” the pilot exclaimed Israel before providing Arkia Airlines flight details, as quoted by the Times of Israel.
Herzog’s visit to Saudi Arabia is said to be to expand the Abraham Accords deal. In Saudi Arabia he met with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
In that meeting they evaluated the two years in which the agreement of the Abraham Accords was in effect.
“This visit is an opportunity to evaluate after two years of the Abraham Accords,” Herzog told reporters.
“It started as an agreement, then it turned into a relationship between countries, and now countries want to increase agreements and are working to get more countries on board,” he said.
The Abraham Accords are a joint statement between IsraelJoined UAE and USA in August 2020.
Since the agreement came into force, Saudi Arabia has allowed Israeli airlines to fly over its territory, particularly in special air corridors for flights to and from the Gulf countries.
Subsequently, Saudi Arabia also extended that authorization to include commercial flights to and from Israel to destinations such as India, Thailand and China, in order to reduce flight times as part of a multilateral agreement to transfer control of a pair of islands in the Red Sea from Egypt to Saudi Arabia.
Israel and Saudi Arabia itself have never had formal diplomatic relations. But the two countries have had a secret relationship that has become increasingly cordial in recent years.
This warm relationship comes after Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) reportedly highlighted Israel as a strategic partner in the fight against Iranian influence in the region.
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