In first, UAE parliamentary delegation visits the Knesset

Lawmakers welcome dignitaries from Gulf state as ‘neighbors and brothers’; group also visits Yad Vashem

Three members of the United Arab Emirates’ Federal National Council (FNC) visited the Knesset Monday, becoming the first Emirati delegation to do so since the US-brokered normalization of ties in 2020.

“When we talk about Abraham Accords agreements, we want you to look at the big picture,” Chairman of the FNC’s Defense Affairs, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee Ali Rashid al-Nuaimi said at the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

“It’s not a political agreement only, it’s not an issue related to security and defense. No, it is an agent of change for the whole region,” Nuaimi said, advocating “full engagement in all sectors.”

The delegation met with a range of Israeli lawmakers, led by Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy. Prior to arriving at the Knesset, the Emiratis paid a visit to Yad Vashem memorial museum, where they laid a wreath to honor the victims of the Holocaust.

The UAE became the third Arab nation to normalize ties with Israel after Egypt and Jordan, a move that angered the Palestinians as it recognized the Jewish state before the establishment of a Palestinian one.

Nuaimi said that after the 2021 Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, “people were questioning what will happen to the Abraham Accords,” the name of the agreements brokered under the Donald Trump administration.

Ram Ben-Barak (L), head of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, listens to Ali Rashid al-Nuaimi — chairman of the Defense, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) Federal National Council, on February 7, 2022. (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

“I want everyone to know there is no way back, we are moving forward, we are not repeating history, we are writing history,” he said.

MK Ram Ben Barak, head of Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, called his guests “neighbors and brothers.”

“There’s a misconception, as though the normalization agreement was based on just one element, of shared threats and challenges, but that’s the smallest part of the deal,” he said. “Israel is committed to the agreement and plans on enhancing and expanding it in all fields.”

Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco have also normalized ties with Israel under the accords.