Saudi, Iranian speak on Israeli TV in hint of new Mideast

In a small indication of a possibly changing Middle East, Israel’s Channel 2 news has this week interviewed both a Saudi official and an Iranian woman live on air.

In what Channel 2 said was its first-ever live interview from Saudi Arabia, the channel’s Arab affairs correspondent, Ehud Yaari, interviewed Saudi Arabian Abed al-Hamid Hakim directly from Jeddah on Monday.

Hakim spoke of the crisis between Saudi Arabia and its allies and Qatar. He said in the interview that his country isolated Qatar in keeping with a new state policy to isolate “terrorism,” which was connected to US President Donald Trump’s visit to the kingdom last month.

Hakim told Channel 2 that the time had come for a “new Middle East,” but did not address Saudi-Israel relations.

He told Yaari that he thought isolating Qatar was the first step in weeding out terror in the entire region. The Saudi also said that the Middle East should not allow religion to be used to achieve political goals, specifically mentioning the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups.

The unnamed Iranian woman spoke Wednesday with the news channel with her face blurred to protect her identity.

She described the day’s terror attack, and said Iranians looked forward to being at peace with other nations.

There have been various media reports of clandestine talks between Israel and Arab powers, who have come to see the Jewish state as a possible ally against what they consider to be a far greater threat — Iran and its regional aspirations. Saudi officials have had some open meetings with senior Israelis, and a Saudi general has visited Jerusalem and met with officials and politicians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has often spoken of growing secret ties with Arab nations, though some experts have warned that the prospects of normalization of ties before peace with the Palestinians is achieved are dim.