Keren Hajioff / Twitter.com
Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday met with Emirati Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at his palace in Abu Dhabi, in the first official visit to the UAE by an Israeli leader.
The meeting focused on the shared threat posed by Iran, as well as advancing economic cooperation between the countries, PM Bennett’s office stated. Shortly after the meeting, the official Emirati news agency WAM reported bin Zayed as expressing hope the meeting would “contribute to further cooperation for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries and the peoples of the region”.
PM Bennett also met government ministers, and told state news: “Mutual partnership and friendship are natural. We are neighbours and cousins”. In an interview with WAM, PM Bennett said that last year’s Abraham Accords normalising Israel’s ties with the UAE and Bahrain established a “new, deep and solid structure for diplomatic, economic and cultural relations” in the Middle East.
