Netanyahu to visit UAE for 1st official trip

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for a first official visit to the Gulf nation since normalizing ties, Israeli media confirmed on Wednesday.

Netanyahu will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a step that comes before the March 23 elections.

Netanyahu has been seen as eager to make the trip, to boast about his diplomatic achievements and boost his campaign.

Emirati officials told the Walla news site that there had been concerns the visit would be seen as an intervention in the Israeli elections, but in the end Abu Dhabi agreed to the trip.

Netanyahu tasked Mossad chief Yossi Cohen with persuading the UAE to agree to the visit, Axios reported, and it was not clear what, if anything, was promised to the Emiratis in return for their consent.

“The Emiratis sent signals that they’d rather postpone the visit until after the elections, but Netanyahu and Cohen pressed hard until the Emiratis agreed,” Axios said.

The trip by Netanyahu will 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.

Palestinians condemned the normalization agreements, saying they encouraged Israel’s denial of their rights and do not serve the Palestinian cause.