Netanyahu cancels trip to UAE amid dispute with Jordan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a planned visit to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, Israeli officials said, because Jordan delayed approving his flight path over the Hashemite kingdom.

They also said that a new date will be fixed for the visit.

However, Sara Netanyahu was hospitalized with an appendix infection late Wednesday, but officials in Netanyahu’s Office said this was not the reason for the cancellation.

The office said the trip was cancelled because Jordan delayed approving Netanyahu’s flight path over the country to the Gulf state.

It also said this was apparently in retaliation for the Jordanian crown prince’s canceled trip to Al-Aqsa mosque on Wednesday, which he called off amid a dispute with ‘Israel’ over entry permits for his security detail.

The Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah was on his way to the Allenby border crossing, but turned back when his protection force was denied entry, the Kan public broadcaster reported.

Netanyahu’s visit “was postponed due to difficulties in coordinating his flight in Jordanian airspace. These difficulties apparently stemmed from the cancellation of the Jordanian Crown Prince’s visit to the Temple Mount due to a disagreement over security procedures at the site,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Thursday afternoon.

“Jordan recently announced that it would allow the prime minister’s flight to use Jordanian airspace but since the announcement was received late, the prime minister and Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed agreed to coordinate on another date for the prime minister’s visit.”

The trip by Netanyahu was supposed to be his first official visit since normalizing the relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain last year.

Netanyahu had originally been set to make the trip in November, then December, and then in January, and the last in February, but the pandemic, scheduling issues, and internal political crises led him to postpone repeatedly.

The UAE was the first country to agree to normalize ties with the occupation state under the Abraham Accords, a pact brokered by the United States, a move that was followed by Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

Also, Israeli media said that Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may meet in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

Reports revealed that the Saudi Crown Prince had met Netanyahu in November of last year in the Saudi town of Neom. Israeli officials confirmed the reports while Saudi Arabia denied them.