Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett Makes Historic Visit to UAE

Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett left for the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, the first trip to the UAE by an Israeli prime minister. Bennett is scheduled to meet on Monday with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, who issued the invitation to Bennett. They are expected to discuss deepening the ties between Israel and the UAE, with an emphasis on economic and regional issues. Bennett’s trip will be confined to just a meeting with the crown prince, after being curtailed due to the omicron variant of COVID-19. He will spend just one day in the UAE, eschewing a side trip to Dubai to visit the Israeli pavilion at Expo 2020, and meetings with other officials and business leaders. Israel and the UAE normalized relations in September 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords. Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who signed the accords, planned several trips to the UAE but was forced to cancel them and never visited the UAE as prime minister.