DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An Israeli cycling team races through Dubai today, taking part in the UAE Tour for the first time in the latest overture between the two countries, which have no diplomatic relations.
Gulf Arab nations have made a number of recent moves hinting at warmer ties with the Jewish state, with Israeli athletes and officials increasingly allowed to visit.
“Israel Start-Up Nation will make history on Sunday by competing in the UAE Tour, becoming the first Israeli team to participate in the Middle East’s top cycling race,” the team says in a statement.
Israel Start-Up Nation cycling team members pose before the start of the first stage of the UAE Tour in Dubai on February 23, 2020. (Giuseppe Cacace/AFP)
“The participation in this race by our Israeli team in a Middle Eastern nation is emblematic of how cycling can be a force for diplomatic openness and progress,” its co-owner Sylvan Adams says.
Like all Arab countries, except for Jordan and Egypt, the United Arab Emirates has no official relations with Israel.
But Israel Start-Up Nation’s members, with their country’s name emblazoned on their blue and white shirts, posed on stage before the week-long race kicked off in Dubai.
The team says they were surprised by the warm reception they received in the UAE, where expatriates make up about 90 percent of the population.
— AFP
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