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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was formally invited to visit the United Arab Emirates on Monday after his first official visit as prime minister to the Gulf state was delayed for months.
The invitation, however, was not specifically for the trip to Israel, but for Netanyahu to join dozens of other foreign leaders at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. The summit will not take place until the end of November.
Mohamed Al Khaja, the UAE Ambassador to Israel, delivered the invitation to the Prime Minister, who also delivered the invitation during a separate meeting with President Isaac Herzog.
Netanyahu had tried to make the UAE his first foreign destination nearly five months ago after returning to the prime ministership.
Days after he began his sixth prime ministerial term, his office announced a trip to Abu Dhabi, but the UAE called off the visit amid Abu Dhabi anger over National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount hotspot. The far-right cabinet member visited the site again on Sunday, drawing renewed condemnation from the UAE, as well as from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt and the United States.
A senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel earlier this year that the UAE’s decision in January to suspend Netanyahu’s visit was also due to fears that the Israeli prime minister would use it to publicly threaten Iran on UAE soil. Abu Dhabi has recently been trying to defuse tensions with Tehran and seek to balance its nascent relationship with Jerusalem with a complex deal with the Islamic Republic.
UAE Ambassador to Israel Mohamed Al Khaja invites President Isaac Herzog (right) to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai on May 25, 2023 (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
In the years leading up to Israel signing the Abraham Accords normalization agreement with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco in 2020, Netanyahu, as prime minister, visited the UAE several times, but none of these were made public.
His attempt to arrange an official visit in early 2021 after signing a normalization deal with the UAE has also hit a snag as the UAE does not want to host Netanyahu shortly before Knesset elections and be seen as meddling in Israel Politics. Another delay stemmed from Jordan’s refusal to authorize Netanyahu to fly over the Hashemite kingdom amid controversy surrounding a planned visit by the Jordanian crown prince to the Temple Mount.
However, Netanyahu has spoken with MBZ by phone in recent months. The Emirati leader called Netanyahu in January to congratulate him after the swearing-in of Israel’s 37th government.two people also spoke Exchange Ramadan and Passover wishes in April.
Herzog visited The UAE met with MBZ in December. He is also flying to Dubai in January 2022 for Expo 2020 Dubai’s Israel National Day event.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) will be held at Dubai Expo City from 30 November to 12 December. Some 70,000 officials and activists are expected to fly to the Gulf state for the summit, according to the UAE. Other foreign leaders receiving invitations this week include Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom the Arab League has agreed to return to after weathering a bloody civil war at home.
United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan smiles for a photo ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, Russia, October 11, 2022. (Pavel Bednyakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool photos via AP)
A UAE press release said the aim of the meeting was to develop “a clear roadmap to accelerate progress through a pragmatic global energy transition and ‘leaving no one behind’ inclusive approach to climate action.”
In March, UAE-Israel economic relations took a major step forward when the two sides signed the final and most important component of a free trade agreement (albeit without the presence of UAE ministers).
A few days later, the two countries finalized an agreement on mutual recognition of the driver’s licenses of their citizens.
But amid civil turmoil in Israel over proposed judicial reforms, violence with Palestinians and non-diplomatic statements by members of Netanyahu’s coalition, senior Emirati officials have avoided visiting and have until now invited government ministers to visit the country country.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report
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