![Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud speaks during the 14th Islamic Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on June 1, 2019 [BANDAR ALGALOUD / SAUDI KINGDOM COUNCIL / HANDOUT - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/20190601_2_36717814_44977804.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
A Jerusalem-based rabbi, David Rosen, prayed for the full and healthy recovery of Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz who was admitted to a hospital in Riyadh after suffering an inflammation of the gall bladder.
Posted on Israel’s Arabic-language Foreign Ministry Twitter account, Rosen also supplicated for the 84-year-old monarch to be able to continue to lead his people and “to promote initiatives for peace in the region and the world as a whole”.
The Jewish leader, who is also international head of Interfaith Dialogue at the American Jewish Committee (AJC), expressed his gratitude to King Salman for hosting him and other members of the board of directors of King Abdullah International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) at his royal palace in February.
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The centre was established eight years ago and is based in the Austrian capital Vienna and named after King Salman’s predecessor the late-King Abdullah.
Rosen, who was born in England, moved to Jerusalem to study at a yeshiva in his teens and later served in the Israeli army during the Six Day War. He is also a member of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate’s Commission for Interreligious Dialogue.
The rabbi’s message comes amid Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states increasingly normalising relations with Israel. Recently, in a first such move, a Saudi academic published a paper in an Israeli journal with the aim of “brining the two nations closer”.