SOCCER
Cristiano is wanted by Israel to have a role in international diplomacy with Saudi Arabia
The Portuguese player is being thought of as a way to normalise international relations with Saudi Arabia.
Israel want Cristiano Ronaldo to help normalise their relationship with Saudi Arabia. According to Kan 11 television, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, directed by Eli Cohen, plans to recruit the Portuguese player to swing the opinion of both countries’ populations to accept a situation of mutual understanding between the two nations. Both countries have experienced a diplomatic conflict since the middle of the last century.
Israel and Saudi Arabia, in fact, have never established official relationships until now; in 1947, the Saudis voted against the UN’s Partition Plan for Palestine, whose objective was to divide territory of the British Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state. Traditionally, official Saudi political policy towards the Israel-Palestine conflict has been directed against Israel.
In the last few years, however, reports have emerged regarding a quiet diplomatic, intelligence and security cooperation, something that has not convinced a strong proportion of the populations of the two countries. This alliance would have brought to light a change in the power conflicts that go on in the regions along with the other main player, Iran. At the same time, the relationship with Saudi Arabia and Palestine has deteriorated.
In August 2016, various Saudi media outlets assured that their country had changed their stance towards Israel, including criticising antisemitism from other Arabian countries. The press described it then as a media campaign to create a positive public opinion that allows to deepen the two ties between the nations.
Ronaldo, it seems, could accelerate this agreement in a definitive way, in the style of Obama: the ex-President of the USA received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen the international diplomacy and cooperation between the two people”, above all in terms of the arab world.
