Kuwait Denies Intelegence Cooperation With Israel

Kuwait City, 25 Dzulhijjah 1437/27 September 2016 (MINA) – Kuwait’s foreign minister and First Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah denied on Monday any intelligence cooperation between his country and Israel.

In a response to a question by a Kuwaiti lawmaker, the minister said Kuwait has not changed its position towards Israel, noting that reports circulated by the Israeli press were completely “false.”

Al-Sabah stressed that Kuwait’s policy regarding the Israeli occupation is based on a joint Arab position. He noted that when the Israeli prime minister spoke at the UN General Assembly last week, only a few low-level Kuwaiti officials remained in the hall, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) reported.

Al-Sabah repeated a saying by a late Kuwaiti emir that: “Kuwait will be the latest Arab country to normalise relations with Israel.”

Regarding the joint Arab position, he said that it is based on UN Security Council resolutions which call on Israel to allow the Palestinian people to exercise their political rights and recognise their state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Regarding previous Kuwaiti visits to Palestine, he said they were part of Kuwait’s duties while it chaired the Arab League, noting that the aim was to stand beside the Palestinian Authority (PA) against the practices of the Israeli occupation practices.

Al-Sabah said that the visits were organised in collaboration with the PA and the Jordanian Hashemite Kingdom, which is the custodian of Al-Aqsa Mosque.    (T/P008/R07)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)