Israeli media sources published a video clip documenting the joy of Israeli President Isaac Herzog – today, Sunday – as his plane crossed Saudi airspace, on his way to his first visit to the UAE after the normalization of relations between the two sides in 2020 following the mediation of the US government.
The video shows the pilot telling President Herzog to fly over Saudi airspace, to which he replied, “I’m excited! We imagined this moment before.”
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Moment Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s plane flies over Saudi Arabia #Saudi Arabia
Before arriving at the airport #Abu Dhabi 🇮🇱🇦🇪🇸🇦 pic.twitter.com/HM1V2iVl25– Shimon Aran شمعون آران (@simonarann) January 30, 2022
The pilot said, “We are now directly over the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and in a short time we will cross over the capital.”
The video footage showed Herzog staying in the pilot’s cabin to watch the crossing over Saudi Arabia, and he said: “Wonderful, it’s really a very exciting moment.”
It does not have any diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, but the Kingdom announced on September 2, 2020 that it had agreed to allow all flights to and from the UAE to cross its airspace, two days after the first public Israeli flight to cross Saudi airspace.