Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said on Tuesday that the Kingdom could not care less about the new Israeli government, as the countries have had no diplomatic relations.
The remark was made at a joint press conference with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg in Vienna, as the sides discussed developments in the Middle East.
Strong on rhetoric, Al Saud stressed that Israel had nothing to do with Saudi Arabia.
History was made in early June when the Ra’am party became the first Arab faction to join the Israeli government in decades. The leader of the party, Mansour Abbas, signed an agreement to support the coalition government formed by Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid and right-wing Yamina party head Naftali Bennett. The move was met with criticism by Palestinians.
Bennett, a former defense minister, was appointed by parliament as the new prime minister in a razor-thin 60-59 vote on June 13. He will lead a patchwork coalition government of right-wing, leftist, centrist and Arab conservative forces who banded together to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu from the post of prime minister.
Saudi Arabia, like most other Arab nations, does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. However, reports have frequently indicated some behind-the-scenes diplomatic cooperation as the two have a common interest in opposing Iranian influence in the region.
