Uzi Mahnaimi and Sarah Baxter of the TimesOnline are reporting that Israeli defense officials have assured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Saudi Arabia would look the other way if Israeli warplanes flew over the Kingdom on their way to Iran.Or, at least, they might have. Now that the information has been leaked, I doubt very much if the Royals would risk the backlash from their fundamentalist base: Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad's director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility. The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials. "The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia," a diplomatic source said last week. ...(Read Full Post)