PM Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday that in a meeting with Sudan’s head of Sovereignty Council, the two leaders agreed to start the process that would eventually lead to a normalization between the two countries.

The meeting between Netanyahu and Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan reportedly lasted for two hours and came during Netanyahu’s visit to Uganda, where he urged the Ugandan president to consider opening an embassy in Jerusalem. 

Netanyahu said he believed Sudan was moving into a whole new — and positive — direction, adding he believed Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan wanted to help the country modernize and do away with its isolation.  

Reports i Hebrew media suggest that Israeli passenger jets would now be allowed to fly over Sudan, which could cut the travel time to some destinations, such as Brazil, by three hours.

Sudan officially declared war on Israel in 1967, with the onset of the Six-Day War, and as of today, there has been no peace treaty or truce between the two countries.

So far, Israel has signed formal peace treaties only with Jordan and Egypt, but the Jewish State has recently been forging under-the-radar relations with the Gulf monarchies as well.

Bringing them together was a concern over a joint adversary — the resurgent Iran, seen as working to re-shake the power balance in the region through a network of proxy groups.    

In March 2019, Netanyahu delivered a speech in a commemoration ceremony of former Israeli prime minister Levi Eshkol, referring to relations advancing between the Jewish State and its Arab and Muslim neighbors — some of them “unseen” by the public.

“We are conducting this process under the radar, and in these days Israel is conducting relations with half a dozen prominent Arab and Muslim countries that were hostile toward Israel just until recently.”