Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be able to visit the UAE before the Israeli elections scheduled for next Tuesday, while a former Emirati minister said that his country will not be part of any Israeli electoral process.
Israel Radio said today, Wednesday, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had failed to arrange a visit to the Emirates before the elections, thus postponing for the fifth time the visit he was expected to make to this Gulf country.
For its part, Hebrew Channel 13 reported that Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed will not hold a meeting with Netanyahu before the Israeli elections.
The channel quoted sources in the Emirates as saying that Abu Dhabi is not interested in interfering in the Israeli election campaign, and therefore bin Zayed will not hold a meeting with Netanyahu in the coming days.
Israeli sources in Tel Aviv had suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would pay an official visit to the UAE on Thursday, after he canceled his planned visit last Thursday, due to what he said were difficulties in coordinating the passage of his trip through Jordan's airspace.
Before Israeli sources confirmed the failure of the visit arrangements, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported an agreement between the Israeli and Emirati sides that the visit would take place tomorrow, while Israeli sources reported that a luxury amiri plane had arrived in Israel during the past 24 hours.
Gargash's statements coincide with Israeli reports about the failure of arrangements for Netanyahu's visit to Abu Dhabi (Reuters)
Emirates and the Israeli elections
In the context, the former UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said today that the UAE has not and will not be part of any internal electoral process in Israel.
"From the point of view of the United Arab Emirates, the goal of the Abrahamic Agreements is to provide a strong strategic basis for promoting peace and prosperity with the State of Israel and the region," Gargash added in a tweet on Twitter.
The former Emirati official was referring to the normalization agreements concluded by Arab countries with Israel.
Gargash's statements coincided with the publication of Hebrew websites, statements by Emirati sources that the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed, would not hold a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the elections.