Saudi Arabia admitted an Israeli journalist for the first time. Orly Azoulay, a US-based correspondent for Yediot Achronot, flew to Riyadh this week as part of a press delegation accompanying UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Arab League summit.
Azoulay, a dual French-Israeli citizen, was the only journalist in Ban’s entourage to whom the Saudis denied a visa. According to Azoulay, she boarded Ban’s plane while UN officials were still lobbying Saudi Arabia over the issue. Azoulay, 53, had sought the visa on her French passport. She said she had travelled in the last two years to Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Pakistan and had gone to Saudi Arabia in 2000 with correspondents covering the American secretary of state, Madeleine Albright.
Both Lebanon and Saudi Arabia initially refused to grant Azoulay a visa, but Lebanon had dropped its objections last week and given her the needed stamp. When the Saudi consulate in New York returned the passports of the 11 reporters to the United Nations headquarters on Friday afternoon, only Azoulay’s bore no Saudi visa. This occurred despite repeated appeals to the Saudis during the week from Vijay Nambiar, Ban’s chief of staff. Israel, also on the UN chief’s itirenary, granted visas to all 11 news people, including at least three who are Arab- or Iran-born and travelling on European passports.
When they landed, a representative of the Saudi Information Ministry who met them had still not been informed of Azoulay’s participation. When he learned of it, the representative told her, “Welcome to Riyadh. Welcome, you have nothing to worry about, we will all watch over you here. You are our guest.â€
Azoulay wrote on Ynetnews.com, “The UN Secretary-General, who is currently engaged in promoting the Saudi peace initiative between Israel and the Arab states, wanted to convey a placating message: He believed that if he brought a joint delegation comprising Arab journalists and an Israel media representative on the same plane, he would succeed in partially breaking the ice.â€
“She very much wanted to but was not granted a visa,†the representative said. The journalist burst into laughter: “She received a visa and an invitation from the Saudi foreign minister.†The official opened his eyes widely and went on to ask when the journalist would arrive and where she was. “Here she is sitting in your car,†the journalist pointed to me.
Had his seat not had a backrest he would have fallen over. He looked at me, remained silent for a moment and then said: Welcome to Riyadh. Welcome, you have nothing to worry about; we shall all look after you. You are our guest.
The official showed me the list of journalists who had received entry permits to the conference: My name and the name of the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth appeared on the list. Saudi Arabia has for the first time officially opened its doors to an Israeli journalist. The Saudis are attributing great importance to the summit, during which their peace initiative is due to be reaffirmed.
