Latest on Saudi Normalization Attempts with Zionist Entity: King Receives Israeli Rabbi

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman received a delegation last Thursday (February 20) from the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID Dialogue Centre) that included Israeli Rabbi David Rosen.

The announcement of the presence of an Israeli rabbi in the Saudi royal palace is an unprecedented event in the kingdom’s history.

Rosen was born in England but moved to the Zionist entity years ago and is a member of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate’s Commission for Interreligious Dialogue. He spent two and a half days in the Saudi capital to attend a meeting of the King Abdullah International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, where he is a member of the board of directors.

The Vienna-based center, known as KAICIID, was established eight years ago by the previous Saudi king, Abdullah, but no Saudi monarch has ever invited its board to the royal palace in Riyadh.

“It was amazing. The experience was really something special,” Rosen told “The Times of Israel” this week.

“And it was not just the meeting with the king. The most exciting thing was meeting young people and their sense of the transformation their country is undergoing.”

Riyadh has been moving forward towards normalizing ties with the Zionist entity, with Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri saying last month that Israelis are now permitted to travel to Saudi Arabia for business and religious purposes.

The statement gave the green light for Israelis to go to Saudi Arabia overtly for the first time since the occupation of Palestine and the establishment of the Zionist entity.