“What you say makes sense. …[In a one-state scenario,] the prime minister of Israel in a few years will be called Mohammed,” Trump told King Abdullah.
In another photo he posted, Soros is seen posing for a selfie with former U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan.
King Abdullah was far from a revolutionary. With cautious steps, the late Saudi monarch set the stage for reforms in his insular kingdom — and ties with Israel, Hussein Ibish writes.
Saudi King Salman pledged on Friday to maintain existing energy and foreign policies then quickly moved to appoint younger men as his heirs, settling the succession for years to come by naming a deputy crown prince from his dynasty’s next generation.
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah died early on Friday and his brother Salman became king, the royal court in the world’s top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam said in a statement carried by state television.
Israeli and Saudi ex-spy chiefs Amos Yadlin (left), Prince Turki al-Faisal (center) dialogue in Brussels, May 26. Moderator David Ignatius at right. / German Marshall Fund-YouTube screen grab
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah keeps, “treasures” and sometimes shows off a dagger given by Adolf Hitler himself to a visiting Saudi delegation in 1939.
Zvi Barel, Haaretz’s impeccably cautious Middle East commentator, reports (might be paywall; here is the Hebrew original) that Hamas secretary general Khaled Meshaal has agreed to accept a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state alongside Israel based on the 1967 borders. This follows talks in Amman this week between Meshaal King Abdullah of Jordan. Barel cites a Saudi newspaper, A-Sharq, which in turn cited “Jordanian sources.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secretly met Jordan’s King Abdullah in Amman to discuss the risk of Syria’s chemical weapons falling into the hands of Islamist militants, Israeli media reports said on Wednesday.
Jordan’s electoral commission set Jan. 23 as the date for early parliamentary elections on Tuesday after King Abdullah dissolved parliament halfway through its term, reacting to pressure to accelerate political reforms.