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UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan will visit Israel next week to mark the second anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords, Channel 12 reported on Thursday.
Bin Zayed will meet with Prime Minister Lapid, President Isaac Herzog, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Deputy Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who will continue to deal with Iran-related issues The problem.
Bin Zayed last met Bennett in Abu Dhabi during a brief visit by then-Israeli Prime Minister in June, when Iran nuclear talks would be at the top of the agenda, possibly at Bin Zayed’s meeting next week. during the meeting.
While Israel and the United Arab Emirates have taken slightly different stances on the issue, with Jerusalem seen as more hawkish, both countries have urged the United States to take a tougher stance on Iran in talks to restart the nuclear deal. Those talks are believed to have made significant progress last month but have hit another snag in recent weeks.
The last time the UAE foreign minister was in Israel for the Negev summit was in March, where, along with their counterparts from Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt and the United States, they agreed to set up a regional forum to discuss regional issues. This will be his first bilateral visit.
The UAE and Israel signed a normalisation agreement in 2020 as part of the US-backed Abraham Accords. Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco also normalized relations with Israel within the framework of the agreement.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, left, meets UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Kobi Gideon/GPO) in Abu Dhabi on June 9, 2022
Israel’s ambassador to the UAE, Amir Hayek, revealed last month that trade between Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached $1.4 billion in 2022 in the first seven months of this year. This is a significant increase from the previous year when trade between the two countries reached $1.2 billion.
Despite the positive developments, there are minor signs of friction in Israel’s relations with the UAE. A day after a record number of Jews were allowed to visit the Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day earlier this summer, the UAE foreign ministry called on Israel to provide “full protection” at the site and urged respect for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s Informal role as guardian of the Holy Land in Jerusalem.
The statement also called for an end to “provocative violations” on the Temple Mount and urged Israel to “maximize restraint” to avoid further instability.
Additionally, plans to build a permanent sanctuary for Dubai’s rapidly expanding Jewish congregation have sputtering Jewish leaders said. The new community faces obstacles that religious groups have long grappled with in the federation, with Islam, the state’s official religion, closely monitored, non-Muslim activities controlled and religious buildings restricted.
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