Israeli minister covertly went to Abu Dhabi to discuss Netanyahu visit

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Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer covertly visited Abu Dhabi on Sunday and met with various senior UAE officials, Israeli media reported on Monday.

Israeli Walla! newspaper political affairs correspondent Barak Ravid quoted two sources informed on the matter as saying Dermer went to Abu Dhabi on a secret trip and met with various senior officials from the UAE.

One of the visit's goals is to discuss the possibility of Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visiting the United Arab Emirates, Ravid added.

"This is the first visit made by an Israeli minister to the UAE since the formation of the newest Israeli cabinet," he noted.

Walla! reported that Netanyahu declared that his first visit as premier would be to Abu Dhabi, and he even planned for a visit around two weeks ago, but his trip was postponed.

Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir raiding Al-Aqsa compound, "which took place after a decision was taken to postpone the visit, led to regional tensions that made it difficult to coordinate regarding a new date" for Netanyahu's Abu Dhabi visit, it added.

"Dermer, who is considered to be the closes minister to Netanyahu, is responsible on his behalf for relations with the United States, the Iran issue, and the bolstering of normalization agreements," Ravid said.

The Israeli newspaper recalled the various visits made by the premier, saying: "Before the normalization agreements, Netanyahu made several covert visits to the UAE, but he never went on an official visit."

"After the signing of the normalization agreement in September 2020, Netanyahu tried on four different occasions to coordinate a visit to Abu Dhabi, but the trip was postponed time after time," Walla! said. "Throughout his term, which ended in June 2021, Netanyahu did not allow government ministers to visit the UAE."

Ravid explained that this was "the first visit of an Israeli minister to the UAE took place after the formation of the Bennett Lapid government when then-Foreign Minister Yair Lapid was the first to visit the UAE and open the Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi."

It is noteworthy that then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett landed in the UAE on June 9 for talks with President Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, following a free trade deal signed in May.

Bennett's second visit to the UAE since the two normalized relations in a US-brokered 2020 deal also came after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution against Iran's nuclear activity.

The UAE was the first Gulf country to normalize ties with the Israeli occupation.

The visit marked Bennett's first meeting with Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al-Nahyan since he assumed the presidency following the death of his half-brother Sheikh Khalifa a month earlier.