Finance Minister Israel Katz, who briefly served as acting foreign minister and also visited Abu Dhabi several years ago as Transportation Minister, congratulates himself for Israel and the UAE agreeing to normalize ties.
In this photo released on July 1, 2019, then-Foreign Minister Israel Katz visits the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Courtesy Katz’s office)
“As foreign minister, I placed the goal of peace and normalization via strength with the Gulf states at the top of my agenda and got the prime minister’s blessing to advance the issue,” he says in a statement.
“I feel like I’ve made a historic and important contribution to Israel’s security and the bolstering of our regional standing.”
Minister Miri Regev, center, visiting the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi with UAE officials on October 29, 2018. (Courtesy Chen Kedem Maktoubi)
Current Transportation Minister Miri Regev, who has also visited Abu Dhabi in an official capacity, is less excited about the deal.
“This is a historic agreement on every level, security, economic, business — but it can’t come at the expense of sovereignty that the prime minister and all of us have committed to,” she says.
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Thursday, August 13, 2020
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