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On Sunday morning, Israel’s President Herzog touched down for the first-ever official visit by an Israeli president to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The visit is the latest instance in the flourishing relationship between the two countries since the Abraham Accords were signed in 2020.
President Herzog and the UAE’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed met for over two hours on official business, and afterwards Bin Zayed invited President Herzog for an unscheduled follow-up personal meeting at his private palace. The President and his wife were given a warm welcome by the UAE’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, which included the playing of both countries’ national anthems, and a 21-gun salute. Afterwards, they held a working meeting and had lunch with members of the Presidential delegation.
That evening, President Herzog met with Jewish leaders and expressed his thanks to the UAE’s powerful ruler, describing him as “a bold leader, an amazing leader with whom I spent a few hours today and from whom I drew immense inspiration”.
On Monday, President Herzog and the First Lady opened the Israel National Day at Expo 2020 Dubai, where they were welcomed with an honour guard, the raising of Israel’s flag and the playing of ‘Hatikvah’, Israel’s national anthem.
During the opening, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE’s Tolerance and Coexistence Minister and Commissioner-General for Expo 2020 Dubai said that “Israel has much to offer on our global platform”.
In President Herzog’s speech, he emphasised that Israelis share Emiratis’ “high regard for religious faith bound with ingenuity”. He went on to say that Israel “admires” the course that the UAE has charted, and described the country as a “combination of an innovative spirit and forward-thinking approach, with deep respect for the glorious Muslim tradition”.
President Herzog called the Israel pavilion at the Expo “a practical display of cooperation between nations, of the future we can all imagine. This imagination turned into reality right here, when the UAE and its leaders daringly signed the historic Abraham Accords”.
