He didn’t go to the Gulf or any other Arab nation…. maybe.
Reports surfaced yesterday of an alleged secret trip by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to an Arab country without direct ties to Israel. The reports indicated that Netanyahu attempted to forge a strategic partnership with an Arab country in order to thwart Iranian nuclear ambitions.
Today’s reports conflict with yesterday, instead placing Netanyahu in Moscow during the 14-hour window that his whereabouts are disputed. The Israeli leader reportedly sought Russian cooperation to cease arms sales to Iran and Syria, producing evidence that the munitions reached Hezbollah instead. Russian officials denied that a meeting took place between Netanyahu and Vladamir Putin, but did not explicitly reject that Netanyahu visited Moscow.
Prior to the trip, Netanyahu only briefed his close associates, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, all of whom were instructed to keep information on the trip tightly secure. In order to arrive in Moscow, Netanyahu reportedly used millionaire Yossi Meiman’s private jet.
Even though ties between Jerusalem and Moscow have been icy in the past, the relationship warmed earlier this year with Israel adhering to a Russian request to cease the sale of unmanned aerial vehicles and tanks to Georgia.
