UAE requests Tel Aviv embassy soonest. Israeli visitors need no visas

In their first official visit to Israel, UAE officials on Tuesday signed agreements covering direct flights, mutual visa exemptions (Israel’s first with an Arab state) and investments. The event took place at Ben Gurion Airport to avoid covid-19 infection, after Etihad Airlines flight from Abu Dhabi touched down, bringing the Emirati finance and economy ministers, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House envoy Avi Berkowitz. Two senior aides to PM Benjamin Netanyahu were also on the plane having spent time in the UAE to prepare the occasion, a month after the Emiratis and Israel signed their US-brokered normalization treaty. Netanyahu in his words of welcome said, “I think that the visit of such a high level delegation from the UAE… will show our peoples, the region and the entire world the benefit of having f

A formal request from Foreign Minister Abdullah Bin Zayed was handed to Gaby Ashkenazi requesting permission to open the Emirati embassy Israel as soon as possible – likewise the Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi.