Netanyahu Postpones UAE Visit After Spat With Jordan

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu postponed his planned visit to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday after Jordan declined to allow his plane to fly through its airspace, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

The diplomatic standoff came after Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah was forced to cancel a planned visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque at the Temple Mount on Wednesday, after arriving at the border with more than the agreed-upon number of guards.

Late on Thursday morning Jordan informed Israel that the plane carrying Netanyahu could fly through its airspace, according to the statement, but since the notification came so late, the prime minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed agreed to postpone and arrange another visit.

The planned trip had already been thrown into question after Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, was hospitalized on Wednesday afternoon with appendicitis.

It would have been the first visit to the UAE by the prime minister since the signing of the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations with the Emirates.