Many Saudi activists and users reacted to the Saudi tennis player’s confrontation with the Israeli player, and many media outlets saw the move as a step towards normalizing Saudi-Israeli relations through the gates of sports.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency International Group, Saudi tennis player Yara Al-Haqbani faced Israeli player Rin Nikishov in the third round of the Kenya Nairobi International Championship.
Yara al-Haqbani reached the quarter-finals, but was eliminated by English player Jade Cole.
According to Al-Khaleej Al-Jadeed, the news of the confrontation between the two players was not reported in the Saudi media, and only the Middle East newspaper published the news of his defeat against a British opponent.
The news of the Saudi tennis player’s confrontation with an Israeli woman was criticized on social media by the opponents of the normalization of relations with the Zionist regime. In this regard, many users criticized the action of this tennis player.
Another user wrote in this regard: Our education has been weakened. May God guide the righteous to the right path?
The normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel through sport was also discussed at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, when Tahani al-Qahtani played Israeli “Hirschko” in judo, while a number of athletes withdrew before facing Israeli players at the Olympics.
Read more: Recognition of the Israeli regime’s efforts to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia: https://www.paksahafat.com/en/?p=17424
Saudi sports officials have given the female athlete the green light to face an Israeli opponent in order to avoid any sanctions by the International Olympic Committee.
Although Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have formal diplomatic relations, relations between the two countries have strengthened in recent years.
Although Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have formal diplomatic relations, relations between the two countries have strengthened in recent years. These relations range from the informal relations of the second-degree officials of the two sides (the meeting between Turki Faisal and Amos Yadlin and the meeting of Anwar Eshghi and Dori Gold) to the news of Yossi Cohen’s secret trip to Riyadh or the meeting of “Muhammad bin Salman” and “Netanyahu”.
According to experts and observers, “Muhammad bin Salman”, like the leaders of Bahrain and the UAE, seeks to compromise with the Zionist regime at any cost by ignoring the rights of Palestinians and Muslims.
Israeli War Minister Bani Gantz also recently announced that He hopes that the Saudis will move towards signing a normalization agreement, which will be accompanied by strengthening relations with the United States and strengthening peace with Egypt and Jordan, as well as the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.
The Jewish Institute for National Security’s think tank also said that the Saudi Crown Prince had given priority to normalizing relations with Israel, and that this would be his first step if he ascended the throne.