Report: Israeli officials say Oman could be next country to normalize ties with Israel

i24NEWS

December 13, 2020, 03:43 AMlatest revision December 13, 2020, 09:46 AM

 2 min read

After announcing on Thursday a historic normalization deal between Israel and Morocco, Israeli officials believe that the Sultanate of Oman will be the next country to formalize ties with the Jewish state, Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot reported on Sunday.

If a deal with Muscat is reached, it would be the fifth Muslim-majority nation to establish diplomatic relations with Israel over the last four months, after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

For his part, White House senior adviser and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, said that the ultimate prize of getting Saudi Arabia to establish public ties with the Jewish state was only “a matter of time.”

Officials in Jerusalem, quoted by Yediot, said the Saudis could announce a normalization deal with Israel before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20.

A number of Jerusalem officials told Hebrew media sources that the Saudis played a major role in US-Morocco talks, and pressured Rabat to renew diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

In October 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a rare visit to Oman, an Arab state with which Israel has no diplomatic ties, and met with its late leader Sultan Qaboos.

Meanwhile, outgoing US Vice President Mike Pence will reportedly make a final official visit to Israel on January 13, while the Trump administration’s National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien is set to visit Jerusalem on Sunday.

According to Yediot, Israel is in talks with other Muslim countries including Niger, Mali, Djibouti, Mauritania and Comoros in Africa, and Indonesia, Pakistan, Brunei, Bangladesh and the Maldives in Asia.