News - Middle East: Israeli media are talking about Israeli dissatisfaction with the presence of leaders from Hamas and Yemen in Saudi Arabia, to perform the Hajj rituals, while no Israeli flights were operated to Makkah.

On the other hand, "there are tens of thousands of Iranians in Saudi Arabia, a delegation from Ansarullah, and also from the Hamas leadership, including the engineer of operations in the West Bank, Saleh al-Arouri," said the Arab affairs commentator on the Israeli "Kan" channel, Roei Kayes.

A few days ago, Israeli media reported that "direct flights to transport pilgrims to Saudi Arabia will not take place this year," minimizing the possibility of an imminent normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia, mediated by the United States.

The Israeli "Kan" channel dealt with the issue, pointing out that "despite the efforts that have been made, there are no direct flights between Israel and Saudi Arabia to transport pilgrims to Makkah."

The Israeli Ministry of Transport announced that airlines would not submit requests to operate flights to Saudi destinations, a senior aide to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, admitted that this would not happen.

The Israeli National Security Adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, told the Israeli public broadcaster "Radio Kan", earlier, that: "We may be in a position to help in this matter, in the upcoming pilgrimage season, and direct flights are launched from here, but from It's too early to say that."

Hanegbi said that normalization with Riyadh is "elusive," because it "will depend on addressing the tension between Riyadh and Washington."

He added, "Because we believe that the Saudi-American agreement is a prelude to any Israeli normalization agreement with Riyadh, we estimate that the chance of achieving it will not be great."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Saudi Arabia on June 8, said that the US administration will continue to work on the issue of normalization in the coming days, weeks and months."

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told Israeli Channel 14 that he sees a "opportunity" for Washington, until March 2024, in dealing with Saudi demands for normalization, because the United States will be busy after that date with the presidential elections.

This comes at a time when Israeli media are talking about "the rapprochement of Saudi Arabia and Iran harming Israeli interests, and it is the opposite of what Israel was seeking to isolate Iran diplomatically in the Middle East and in the world," and would "push away a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel."

It is noteworthy that last March, Iran and Saudi Arabia announced, in a joint statement, the agreement to resume dialogue and diplomatic relations, and to reopen the embassies in the two countries, in response to an initiative by Chinese President Xi Jinping.