UAE suspends Abu Dhabi summit over Netanyahu’s electioneering

The United Arab Emirates suspended preparations for a summit in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a Biden administration official and heads of the Arab states that normalized relations with the occupation state last year were supposed to attend in April, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.
The Israeli newspaper reported that UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed is outraged at what he sees as Netanyahu exploiting the normalization deal with ‘Israel’ as a part of his election campaign.
The Israeli media reports pointed to Mohammed bin Zayed’s dissatisfaction with Netanyahu publicly claiming in a campaign rally that the Abu Dhabi crown prince has assured him of an immediate investment of up to $10bn into the occupation state.
According to Israeli channel Kan, the UAE does not want to be part of Netanyahu’s election campaign, and has asked him to postpone his visit, which was planned to take place tomorrow, until after the Israeli elections.
Emirati former Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said that the UAE “will not be a part of any internal electioneering in Israel, now or ever”.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Gargash said “from the UAE’s perspective, the purpose of the Abrahamic Accords is to provide a robust strategic foundation to foster peace and prosperity with the State of Israel and in the wider region,” rather than interfering in internal elections.
From the UAE’s perspective, the purpose of the Abrahamic Accords is to provide a robust strategic foundation to foster peace and prosperity with the State of Israel and in the wider region. The UAE will not be a part in any internal electioneering in Israel, now or ever.
— د. أنور قرقاش (@AnwarGargash) March 17, 2021
For his part, Netanyahu told Israeli Army Radio on Wednesday he will travel to the Gulf country after the March 23 Israeli elections are over.
“I will not travel to Abu Dhabi before the elections. I will go there later,” he said.
Netanyahu cancelled a planned visit to the UAE last week due to difficulties in coordinating his flight in Jordanian airspace, as the latter cancelled the trip 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 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.