Jerusalem, 23 May, 2023 (TPS) — The United Arab Emirates invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog to visit the Persian Gulf state to represent the Jewish state at the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai in November. It would be Netanyahu’s first public visit to the UAE.
The invitations to Netanyahu and Herzog were conveyed separately by the Emirati Ambassador to Israel Mohamed Al Khaja on Monday.
Israel and the UAE signed the Abraham Accords in September 2020. But Netanyahu was unable to follow up with his own state visit because of repeated Israeli election campaigns and coronavirus travel restrictions.
Yair Lapid, who was then foreign minister, became the first senior Israeli official to visit the UAE in June 2021 when he inaugurated an Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi and a consulate in Dubai. Naftali Bennett became the first Israeli premier to visit the Emirates in December 2021.
Netanyahu was supposed to visit the Emirates shortly after the swearing in of his current government in December 2022. But Emirati officials postponed the visit in anger at National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount on January 3.
Some 70,000 participants, including political and business leaders, scientists and representatives of various corporations and non-governmental organizations are expected to attend.
Israel’s delegation to the conference will include around 100 companies.