No there isn't a land bridge between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Could there be one?

Last month, Iran disinformation e-army claimed that there was a land bridge established between the UAE and Israel citing an Israeli company claim. I have written a post titled “GeoEconomic Disinformation: Israel is not going to import goods through a land bridge between Dubai and Haifa ports” to debunk their claim. I highly encourage you to read that before continuing this. Nonetheless, since, the story has re-surfaced again. This time the news did not come from an Israeli company only, but also from the Israeli Minister of Transportation. So, does such a land bridge exist?

The simple answer is no. Both Iran and Israel are engaged in disinformation when it comes to this story. Iran disinformation e-army stirred the fake story although they knew it was incorrect. The reason to do so was to expose the UAE ongoing relations with Israel which they deem to be problematic to Iran and its allies. The hope was to add pressure on the UAE to clear its name from ties to Israel. The truth is Truckernet is not a shipping company, it is a data sharing platform. The alleged partner the company claimed to have in the UAE is non-existent. DP World has not come out backing the alleged deal. The company has been involved in fake news spread to jack up their stock price.

But why did Israel then double down on Iran’s disinformation? As many know, Iran and its allies have taken a decision to impose a full maritime siege on Israel in the Red and the Mediterranean Seas. This is adding pressure on prices in Israel and changing consumer spending behaviour. It is also affecting investment decisions as investors weigh in the reliability of Israel supply chain. If Israelis begin to broadly believe that they are under siege and the pain begins to gain momentum, the prices will skyrocket even more quickly and financial and economic problems will amalgamate and augment. Therefore, even a fake story about a land bridge will help calm some of the Israelis and alter their behaviour so economic and financial crash does not become a self-fulfilling prophecy. This is how central banks manage inflation by giving inacccurate information about the actual inflation to prevent people from changing their habits and spending negatively worsening the situation.

Even when the theoretical merits of the land bridge are considered, it does not stand grounds for the following reasons: