Israel Officially Allows Israelis to Travel to Saudi Arabia

Israel’s Interior Ministry Arye Dery signed a directive on Wednesday permitting Israelis to visit Saudi Arabia for the first time in the country’s history.

The decision was announced on Sunday and was made in coordination with the Israeli defense establishment, according to a statement from the Interior Ministry. It will allow travel to Saudi Arabia when it is for the purposes of religious rituals during the Islamic pilgrimages known as the Hajj and the Umrah, or for a business trip limited for up to nine days.

This is conditioned on the person having an invitation from a Saudi official, and is pending no other warrants that may prevent them from entering Saudi Arabia.

Israelis currently do travel to Saudi Arabia, most of them members of the country’s Arab minority, and have done so without an official clearance such as has been signed on Sunday.

Sources familiar with the decision told Haaretz the directive had been signed last Wednesday, culminating a process that has “been brewing for many weeks.”