UAE Crown Prince offers Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to visit Israel
UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed has invited Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday to make his first diplomatic trip to the Gulf state since the normalisation of bilateral relations a year ago with the signing of the Abraham Accords. This would be the first official visit by an Israeli head of government to the UAE. A significant development in the region.
The Emirati ambassador to Israel, Mohamed Al Khaja, has been in charge of extending the letter of invitation with the signature of the crown prince and 'de facto' leader of the executive power in the Emirates to Bennett. The handover took place just before the start of a multilateral meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, which was also attended by Bahrain's representative in the country, Khaled Al Khalahma.
"I had the honour to convey the greetings of the UAE leadership and to hand over a letter of invitation from His Majesty Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to visit the country," the diplomat said, adding that "the steps towards peace continue and relations are getting stronger for the sake of our people and future generations".
Bennett stressed that "the stronger the bond between our countries, the stronger the security and stability of the entire region". The Israeli leader, who in less than two years will become foreign minister and will be replaced by Yair Lapid by virtue of the government agreement that removed Netanyahu from power, was supported at the meeting by the president of the National Security Council, Eyal Hulata, and his chief diplomatic adviser, Shimrit Meir.
The three-way meeting served to gauge the state of bilateral relations one year after the launch of the new regional order. During the meeting, Bennett and his interlocutors sought to broaden and strengthen their ties, but the Israeli chief executive had already held talks with several Emirati and Bahraini ministers on the sidelines of the UN Assembly in New York at the end of September.
One of Netanyahu's most seasoned disciples before their abrupt break-up, Netanyahu would become the first head of government to visit the Gulf country on an official trip. Although it was Netanyahu himself who would have been the first to hold a secret meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed in 2018 under the accompaniment of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, Yossi Cohen.
The official version states, however, that the former prime minister, who was responsible for signing the Abraham Accords with the Emirates and Bahrain, never visited any of the countries with which he normalised relations. And he had six months to do so. In fact, Netanyahu had a trip to the UAE on his agenda that never happened because of COVID-19 and friction with Jordan, which threatened to block his flight.
An invaluable part of the Abraham Accords alliance began to cook in 2018, following former President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. It was then that Tehran, the common enemy that had been somewhat dormant after years of appeasement by Washington, put its nuclear programme back on track and pushed its regional rivals to form a bloc that continues to grow stronger.