Israel opens first embassy in Gulf as Lapid visits UAE

ABU DHABI: Israel’s top diplomat Yair Lapid opened the Jewish state’s first embassy in the Gulf during a trip to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday after ties were normalised ties last year.

“The opening of the Israeli Embassy in Abu Dhabi with the Emirati Minister of Culture and Youth,” he tweeted with a photo of himself and UAE minister Noura al-Kaabi cutting a ribbon in the blue and white of the Israeli flag.

Israeli ministers have previously visited the UAE, but newly appointed Lapid is the most senior Israeli to make the trip, and the first to travel on an official mission.

“Israel wants peace with its neighbours. With all its neighbours. We aren’t going anywhere. The Middle East is our home. We’re here to stay. We call on all the countries of the region to recognise that. And to come talk to us,” Lapid said during the opening ceremony.

Since their US-brokered normalisation agreement was announced in August last year, Israel and the UAE have signed a raft of deals ranging from tourism to aviation and financial services.

During his visit, Lapid will also inaugurate a consulate in Dubai.

Lapid’s trip comes nearly a year after the nations moved to normalise ties, and follows a string of visits by Israeli officials that were planned then scrapped over issues including the Covid pandemic and diplomatic scuffles.

Lapid is a centrist former television presenter who tenaciously hammered together Israel’s new coalition, ending Netanyahu’s more than decade-long tenure as prime minister.

He has sought to break from his rival’s policies, saying Monday that Netanyahu’s government had taken “a terrible gamble” by focussing only on ties with the Republican party in Washington.