Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) toured the Middle East this week—stopping in Egypt, Jordan and Turkey—marking his return to the international stage after becoming a pariah following the murder of journalist and Saudi government critic Jamal Khashoggi.
What does the return of MBS mean, and will it have repercussions for Israel?
“A victory tour is a good way of putting it,” Joshua Teitelbaum, a professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, told JNS.
Teitelbaum speculated that the Saudis and Israelis might open “interest sections” in embassies of third countries. An “interest section” is a way for a country to offer consular services in a state with which it doesn’t have diplomatic relations. America, for example, uses the Swiss embassy in Iran.