Netanyahu to Visit UAE Tomorrow: Reports
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Israel’s prime minister will pay his first visit to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, 10 days before a closely contested election, media reports said on Wednesday.
There was no immediate confirmation of the trip, which Benjamin Netanyahu postponed last month due to the coronavirus pandemic, from his office or the UAE.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper said Netanyahu would meet Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan during the visit.
It was not immediately clear if he would also travel to Bahrain, as he had planned to do during the previously scheduled trip to the Persian Gulf in February.
Netanyahu signed agreements with Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani during an official ceremony hosted by former US president Donald Trump at the White House on September 15 last year.
Palestinians, who seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital, view the deals as a betrayal of their cause.
The Israeli regime has significantly stepped up its much-criticized land grab projects since its normalization deals with the UAE and Bahrain — followed by Sudan and Morocco.
The UAE and Bahrain have also dramatically slashed their financial assistance to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) after the two Persian Gulf states agreed to normalize ties with Israel last August.