Saudi Arabia on Tuesday said that the incident in which a US rabbi was asked to remove his kippah during a visit of an American delegation to the kingdom was “unfortunate”.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said on Monday it cut short its visit to Saudi Arabia after the commission's chair, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, "refused their requests that he remove his religious head covering."

In a statement, the Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC, said, “This unfortunate incident was the result of a misunderstanding of internal protocols.”

“The matter was escalated to senior officials, and HRH the Ambassador had the opportunity to speak with the Rabbi. The matter was resolved but we respect his decision to not continue the tour,” the statement added.

“We look forward to welcoming him back to the Kingdom,” it concluded.

The incident came against a backdrop of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Israel over the war in Gaza. While Saudi Arabia and Israel do not have ties, the US has been working on promoting a normalization agreement.

Israel and Saudi Arabia appeared to be on track towards normalization before Hamas’ October 7 attack against Israel and the war in Gaza which followed.

Shortly after the start of the war in Gaza, sources told Reuters that Saudi Arabia is putting the US-backed plans to normalize ties with Israel on ice.

Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, later said that he believes talks on normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia will resume immediately after the conclusion of the war in Gaza.