UAE Cancels Meeting With Israel’s UN Ambassador

The United Arab Emirates has canceled a planned joint meeting between United States Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Kraft, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan and UAE Ambassador to the UN Lana Nusseibeh, Israel’s Walla News reported Monday. According to the report, the reason behind the abrupt change in plans is the affront taken by the UAE to Israel’s recent declarations regarding a potential weapons deal between the UAE and the US. Last week it was revealed that as part of the normalization agreement reached by the two countries, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had agreed to remove Israel’s long-standing opposition to the selling of F-35 stealth jets to Arab nations. The prime minister quickly denied the claims and declared that he would oppose any such transaction. US President Donald Trump and UAE officials, on the other hand, voiced rather different views, saying they expected the recently negotiated Abraham Accord between the UAE and Israel to “make it easier” for such deals to be reached. The UAE’s “disappointment” in Israel’s latest rhetoric means no official meetings or photo opps between the countries’ leaders will take place until the Jewish state “clarifies” its standing regarding the weapons sale, the report said.