JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said top US officials will escort an Israeli delegation to the UAE on Monday, in what would be the first-ever commercial flight between the two countries in the Middle East.
The high-level meeting would also be the first between the three parties since US President Donald Trump announced on 13 August a Washington-brokered accord on the normalisation of ties between Israel and the UAE.
In a video statement on Tuesday, Netanyahu said White House senior adviser and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, US Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz and other US officials would travel together to the UAE with an Israeli delegation led by National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat. The US and Israeli officials would fly on board an Israeli aircraft directly from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi.
Talks will focus on ways to promote Israeli-UAE cooperation in sectors such as aviation and tourism, trade, finance, health, energy and security, Netanyahu said. “This is a historic agreement. It will bring growth engines. I hope other countries in our region will join the circle of peace.”
The UAE’s WAM news agency and Israel’s Ynet news website reported earlier on Tuesday that the ministers of defence of both countries – Mohammed bin Ahmad Al Bawardi and Benny Gantz – spoke on the phone for the first time publicly.