Agencies-Gaza post
Dozens of Israeli figures visit Saudi Arabia… for this reason
Tens of Israeli tech figures and business people recently visit Saudi Arabia for advanced talks on Saudi acquisitions in Israeli companies and Israeli asset funds, according to a report (Israeli) in the Globes business daily.
Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have official tactful ties, but secret ties have warmed in latest years as the Saudi crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, has reportedly seen Israel as a strategic partner in the fight against Iranian influence in the region.
The kingdom abstained from signing onto the Washington-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020 as the US and Israel had hoped, but Riyadh is believed to have given the go-ahead to Bahrain, where it retains decisive influence, to enter the normalization deal with Israel alongside the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan.
The business individuals and entrepreneurs who made current visits to Saudi Arabia entered the kingdom on their Israeli passports containing special visas, according to Thursday’s Globes report.
The statement reported a number of deals, both in the civilian and defense sectors, have been since marked between Israelis and Saudis in European and other countries, including a multi-million dollar deal in the agriculture tech sector and a second deal for an Israeli water tech solution. Kingdom officials have closely tracked the developments of these two deals, Globes said.
The Saudis have also expressed curiosity in Israeli medical and health tech resolutions, as well as Israeli “products,” the report said without exaggerating.
The announcement comes weeks after Saudi Arabia was said to be preparing to give millions of dollars for assets in Israeli tech companies via Jared Kushner’s new private equity firm.
Kushner, the son-in-law of former US President Donald Trump and an ex-senior adviser, set up Affinity Partners late last year, growing some $3 billion in dedicated funding from international investors, including the Saudis.
A Wall Street Journal report in early May said Riyadh has eyed two Israeli businesses for acquisition, though the names of the companies were not disclosed, nor the sectors in which they work. The statement said the investment was “the first known instance that the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s cash will be directed to Israel, a sign of the kingdom’s growing willingness to do business with the country, even though they have no diplomatic relations.”
According to the Globes announcement on Thursday, Israeli businesspeople have, for months, been flying to Saudi Arabia on special exit visas at the invitation of Saudi commodities. They have visited the capital Riyadh and also Neom, a Red Sea town where the kingdom has big goals to incorporate smart city technologies that could include Israeli solutions. Neom is part of the kingdom’s Saudi Vision 2030, a national blueprint for economic, social, and cultural advancement.
In late 2020, ex-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, alongside other Israeli officials and then-US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, were said to have visited the city to meet with the crown prince, in the first general high-level meeting between an Israeli and a Saudi leader.
