When Israel President Isaac Herzog met Emirati de facto leader and crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Sunday, it was the former’s first official visit to the United Arab Emirates.
Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed greeted Herzog and his wife upon their arrival at Abu Dhabi Airport followed by a formal welcoming ceremony.
The two-day visit is the latest sign of expanding ties between the two nations even though there are tensions in the region.
Relations between the two countries had been historically cold—UAE once described Israel as the ‘enemy’ of Arab countries—until US President’s Barack Obama’s tenure. The two nations agreed to join hands with the US to be tough on Iran. But it wasn’t until Donald Trump’s presidency that the two nations officially came to good terms.
In September 2020, the UAE and Israel improved relations, based on a series of US-brokered diplomatic agreements, known as the Abraham Accords, between Israel and Arab states which had previously withdrawn any formal contact with Israel due to its decades-long war with Palestinians.
Herzog’s meeting comes a month after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made history by becoming the first Israeli leader to visit the United Arab Emirates, on a trip that discussed Israeli security issues and included international negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme.
His visit could ensure the completion of the bilateral free trade agreement and urge the Arab nation to also join in on putting pressure on Iran to sign a nuclear deal.
Herzog has urged other countries in the area to recognise and join hands with Israel and condemned Yemen's Houthi rebels' recent airstrikes on Abu Dhabi.
The two sides reviewed the development in bilateral ties since the implementation of the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement in 2020, as well as strategies to leverage the agreement's momentum to further deepen cooperation.
Herzog also spoke with Jewish communities residing in the UAE, which serves as the region's commercial and tourism hub. This will come as a major boost for the Jewish community in the UAE. He will also visit the Dubai Expo, where Israel has its own pavilion.
Since the signing of the Abraham Accords, over 3,00,000 Israeli tourists have visited the UAE and a huge development in the trade relations between the nations as well.
Over 60 agreements and memorandums of understanding (MOU) have been signed between the two countries since diplomatic relations were established, including agreements to protect and enhance finances, healthcare, development collaboration and many others. Israeli and Emirati universities have started a student exchange programme.
Another notable aspect of Herzog's visit was the moment when his plane crossed Saudi Arabia on the way to UAE. The president looked at the desert and referred to it as a “moving moment”.
Riyadh is yet to have formal relations with Israel, but the Jewish nation is hoping that the strong ties that have been formed with the UAE and Bahrain over the last few years could help bridge the gap with Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Palestinian leaders have condemned the normalisation of relations between Israel and the UAE as a ‘betrayal’ of their cause for statehood.