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Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wages war on COVID-19 at home while building ties with the UAE and guarding against Iran

- TOM O’CONNOR

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER NAFTALI BENNETT is seeking to build upon a series of peace deals with Arab countries by fortifying ties with the United Arab Emirates, even as he wages war on a particularly contagious strain of COVID-19 at home.

Bennett’s historic December trip to Abu Dhabi marked the first by an Israeli leader to one of the five nations that signed the Abraham Accords, through which four countries—the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco—defied a decades-long Arab boycott to normalize relations with Israel. The four are the first to do so since Egypt and Jordan did decades ago.

Bennett’s reception by an honor guard at Abu Dhabi International Airport emphasized the level of relations being built by the two countries. “It was a meeting that would have been unimaginable a few years ago, and I think that understanding was felt on both sides,” a senior Israeli official who was part of Bennett’s delegation told Newsweek.

On his arrival, Bennett met with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and later went on to hold a four-hour meeting with Emirati Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “Straight from the beginning,” the senior Israeli official said, “the Prime Minister was greeted with open arms and immense warmth. There was an instant connection.”