Israeli minister visits UAE mosque

ABU DHABI: Israeli minister Miri Regev on Monday shared a video on Facebook of her touring a famed mosque in the United Arab Emirates, in an unprecedented visit by a cabinet member.

The culture and sport minister, known for controversial comments about Arabs, was dressed in a red abaya with a white scarf covering her hair at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. "I toured the site," Regev told the camera, in Hebrew, surrounded by a group of people in traditional Emirati dress.

"This is the first time that an Israeli minister is here on a visit." Regev, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, visited the mosque on Sunday, according to her spokesman. Her country does not have diplomatic relations with the UAE.

Israeli officials publicly toured landmark sites in the UAE at the weekend, the first such visit, days after Netanyahu travelled to the neighbouring Gulf state of Oman. The delegation, which includes the country’s communications minister, was in Dubai for the International Telecommunication Union Plenipotentiary Conference this week. "We arrived the day (Sunday) before the conference. We went around the town, and we visited the mall," a member of the delegation said.