With less than 12 days until the elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will pay his first visit to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, an official source confirmed Wednesday.
Netanyahu is said to have updated Defense Minister Benny Gantz on the visit although there was no immediate confirmation of the trip from the Prime Minister's office or the UAE.
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UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(Photo: AP, Alex Kolomoisky)
Netanyahu planned trip was postponed last month due to the coronavirus pandemic, with sources saying that the Gulf kingdom was also worried about the visit's proximity to the March 23 election - but were eventually persuaded.
According to various reports, Netanyahu is set to meet Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan during the visit.
It was not immediately clear if he will also travel to Bahrain, as he had planned to do during the previously scheduled trip to the Gulf in February.
None of Israel's flight carriers - El Al and Israir or Arkia - were offered to take part in the visit and it is unclear how the prime minister will make his way to Abu Dhabi.
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National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat meeting last August with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince bin Zayed
(Photo: GPO)
Israel established formal relations with the UAE and Bahrain last September as part of a U.S.-brokered agreement. The three countries share common concerns about Iran.
Ahead of the signing of the normalization agreements, an Israeli delegation led by National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat and joined by his then-U.S. counterpart Robert Robert C. O'Brien and former senior White House advisor Jared Kushner arrived at Abu Dhabi in August.