Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that normalizing relations with the Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan would lift Israel out of its geographic isolation, with shorter and cheaper flights.
"
We are in the process of changing the map of the Middle East,
" he told a press conference, pointing to flight patterns on a board.
Israelis going to Asian countries will now be able to save "
hours (of travel) and a lot of money,
" he added, thanks to planes that can now fly over Saudi, UAE and Bahraini airspace.
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After signing agreements to normalize relations in September with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, two Gulf countries, Israel will also do so with Sudan.
This announcement was made on Friday.
“
There will be more countries,
” Netanyahu said.
Saudi Arabia still does not have an official relationship with the Jewish state, but it has given the green light to overfly its territory by Israeli commercial flights in the wake of the announcement in August of the agreement between the Emirates. and Israel.
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According to Netanyahu, the rapprochement with Sudan will benefit in particular passengers crossing the Atlantic from Israeli soil.
"
We are now flying west, over Sudan, under the agreements we made even before announcing the normalization (of relations), over Chad with which we have also established relations, towards Brazil and South America,
”he said.
"
This is an evolution that changes the situation," he continued.
"Israel was completely isolated ... Israel is now connected to the whole world
."