UAE, Bahrain envoys skipped Israeli Foreign Ministry iftar
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Israeli media addresses the UAE and Bahraini ambassadors to "Israel" missing the iftar hosted by the Israeli occupation's foreign ministry, indicating a growing rift between "Tel Aviv" and normalizing Arab States.
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Diplomats from numerous countries attend an iftar meal hosted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry on April 2, 2023, occupied Palestine (Israeli occupation government press office)
The ambassadors of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were absent from a Ramadan Iftar hosted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the Israeli Times of Israel website revealed Monday.
The Israeli newspaper added that in light of growing frustration from the Israeli occupation's Arab allies, the Israeli Foreign Ministry hosted an Iftar meal on Sunday evening.
The ambassadors of Turkey and Egypt joined Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Foreign Ministry director-general Ronen Levy at the Iftar, as did Abderrahim Beyyoudh, the head of the Moroccan liaison office in "Israel".
The Brahaini and UAE ambassadors' absence was remarkable, as they sent lower-level diplomats to represent their countries. Israeli media also reported that Jordanian ambassador Ghassan Al-Majali did not attend the iftar.
However, the Israeli Foreign Ministry tried to downplay the incident, highlighting that representatives from the Albanian, Kazakh, Kosovar, Tanzanian, Chadian, and Azerbaijani embassies attended the ceremony.
The United Arab Emirates was one of the first Arab states to normalize ties with the Israeli occupation, which prompted international condemnations against the regime in Abu Dhabi.
The normalization agreements took place in 2020, and normalized Israeli ties with Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, with the deal being signed with Sudan.
Read next: Historic first: Abu Dhabi hosts memorial service for Israeli army dead
According to the Times of Israel, Arab states that normalized ties with the Israeli occupation are pressing the brakes on normalization agreements and avoiding meetings at the senior level.
Furthermore, the site underlined that no senior Israeli officials were invited to pay official visits to either of the three states, while none of the states sent high-level representatives to "Israel".
It was reported in late March that the United Arab Emirates was considering decreasing the level of its diplomatic representation in "Israel" and is instructing its ambassador in "Tel Aviv", Ahmed Al-Khaja, not to meet any Israeli official, member of the Knesset, or minister at this stage, and not to participate in any official ceremonies
UAE newspaper Elaph learned that this came after the Israeli Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich's statements, in which he said that there are no Palestinian people, thus nullifying any entity for the Palestinians. The same minister had called on the government to erase the Palestinian town of Huwara from existence in the wake of an operation, in which two settlers were killed.
Furthermore, Jordan boycotted the Israeli bid at warming ties after Smotrich, who heads the Religious Zionism Party, appeared on Sunday giving a speech before a map of the so-called "Greater Israel" that included Jordan and the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry on Monday condemned the provocative and racist statements made by Smotrich.
In a statement, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Smotrich's actions were "reckless incitement and a violation of international norms and the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty."
"We also condemn the racist and extremist inciting statements made by the extremist Israeli minister against the brotherly Palestinian people, their right to exist, and their historical rights in their independent and sovereign state on the Palestinian national soil," Majali expressed.
