Israel’s Bennett, in 1st UAE Visit, Calls Emiratis ‘Neighbors and Cousins’

Brotherly love stemming from the Abraham Accords appeared to be in abundance on Monday when Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with the Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at his palace, in the first official visit by an Israeli prime minister to the United Arab Emirates. “The message that I wish to deliver to the UAE leaders and Emirati citizens is that mutual partnership and friendship are natural,” Bennett told UAE state media WAM prior to the meeting. “We are neighbors and cousins. We are the grandchildren of the Prophet Abraham. The period that has passed since the signing of the Abraham Agreements proves this, and the deepening of relations between us every day is a great asset to our two countries and our two peoples, and also to the entire region.” Bennett and the crown prince held a meeting that included their advisers and then ate lunch in the crown prince’s home. They then held an over one-and-a-half hour, one-on-one meeting. The meeting reportedly emphasized economic and regional issues, though the two leaders also had been expected to discuss the threat from Iran. Meanwhile, Israel, upset that the UAE also has courted Iran’s friendship, signaled by a recent visit to the Emirates by Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator and deputy foreign minister, Ali Bagheri, reportedly has refused to sell Abu Dhabi its Iron Dome missile defense system.