Israeli team arrives in Saudi Arabia to participate in FIFAe World Cup
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The Israeli FIFAe team is set took partake in the FIFAe World Cup in Saudi Arabia after the Saudi government guaranteed their safety.
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Members of the Israeli FIFAe team, Screenshot (Twitter)
Saudi Arabia hosted the Israeli FIFAe team as they partook in the FIFAe World Cup in Riyadh on Friday.
Israeli media outlets took special note of the event, as Saudi Arabia has not yet formalized its ties with "Israel".
The presenter on Israeli channel Kan said, "It is something we don't see every day in the relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia," confirming that the Israeli FIFAe team "arrived in Riyadh to participate in the World Cup final of the computer game."
The team arrived in Saudi Arabia after landing in the United Arab Emirates using their Israeli passports, according to The Times of Israel.
Zavika Kosman, the manager of the team, told Kan that there was no direct contact between the Israeli and Saudi governments, as FIFAe acted as a mediator to ensure the safety of the Israeli team.
The Israeli manager also said that the team will hide their identities in public for safety-related reasons, however, they will be able to play under the Israeli flag during the tournament.
Kan also noted that the security of the team will be coordinated between local authorities and a private security team.
The Israeli journalist, Roi Kaies, stated that the three Israeli FIFA players arrived in Saudi Arabia with the team coach, Erez Gabay, and the deputy manager, and the five entered with Israeli passports.
"We'll be in the hotel and at the tournament games, we won't walk around in the street," one of the players told Kan in an interview. This highlights the Saudi popular sentiment against Israelis and the process of normalization between the two governments, which has slowed down since the Iran-Saudi agreement was signed back in March.
Saudi Arabia issued a statement permitting all teams participating in the World Cup entry into its territories, however, the letter did not take special note of "Israel".
Shalom Lipner, a former advisor for the Israeli Prime Ministers, said via Twitter, "Israel's FIFAe squad [is] on the ground for 2023 Finals in RIYADH. Israeli flag and anthem [are] expected to feature at opening ceremonies. Normalization proceeding [are] apace."
Read more: Normalization possible with Arab regimes, impossible with Arab people
Limited normalization
This comes about a week after the Israeli news website Walla! revealed details of a phone call between the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the Israeli Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid.
Blinken told Lapid that Israeli-Saudi normalization has become much more difficult to complete and could be impossible to achieve while tension inside "Israel" is at an all-time high, as he referenced the recent failed military campaign on the West Bank.
Earlier this month, Barbara Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, said during a congressional hearing that "There’s a lot of misreporting and a lot of hyperventilation in the press, a lot of excitable rumint, I would say, in the press, especially in the Israeli press. They’re just electric with the idea that Saudi Arabia might take that step," which underlines the difficulties faced by normalizing Arab governments to implement such an agreement, while also highlighting the over-exaggeration of Israeli media outlets.
Read more: US doubts Israeli-Saudi normalization agreement possible: NYT
