Saudi Arabia opens airspace to Israeli flights ahead of Biden visit

Saudi Arabia announced late Thursday that it would open its airspace to “all carriers” ahead of President Joe Biden’s visit, a move that ends the ban on flights to and from Israel.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan commended the move, attributing the progress to Biden’s diplomacy in the Middle East.

“This decision is the result of the President’s persistent and principled diplomacy with Saudi Arabia over many months, culminating in his visit today,” Sullivan said in a statement issued from Israel, where it was already Friday and from where Biden would be traveling to Jeddah. “This decision paves the way for a more integrated, stable, and secure Middle East region, which is vital for the security and prosperity of the United States and the American people, and for the security and prosperity of Israel.” He noted that the president would have more to say on the announcement in the coming day.

The move came just before Biden was set to take flight as the first U.S. leader to travel directly from Israel to the Saudi kingdom, and could be seen as a step toward normalization of relations between the two countries — a relationship the administration is working to “deepen and expand.”

While domestic issues have weighed down Biden’s presidency, he has notched multiple wins overseas this year, playing a vital role in uniting democracies amid Russia’s assault on Ukraine. The president’s trip to the Middle East is his next big foreign policy test as he juggles challenges from political instability to human rights issues, energy supply and regional security.

After visiting Israel and then the West Bank this week to meet with Palestinian leaders, Biden’s next leg of the trip in Saudi Arabia will include a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council with leaders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt.

The White House also confirmed on Thursday that Biden would meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman without King Salman in the room. The president has faced blowback ahead of this potential meeting, as human rights advocates sound the alarm that his trip could be seen as letting the country off the hook for its human rights abuses, including the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

“I always bring up human rights, but my position on Khashoggi has been so clear, if anyone doesn’t understand it in Saudi Arabia or otherwise, they haven’t been around me for a while,” Biden told reporters in Jerusalem this week, not committing to raising Khashoggi’s death with the crown prince.