The UAE had a clear goal in signing a deal with Israel: gaining support and arms from the U.S. This reflects a long pattern of foreign leaders from Egypt to India to Russia being friendly with Israel so as to gain access to Washington. But our press ignores the trend.
The Israel-UAE deal is an exchange of veils. Israel’s Apartheid is veiled again, in return for the veil on UAE Israeli cooperation being removed. And the UAE sells out its commitment to Palestinian freedom.
The normalization of relations between the UAE and Israel, facilitated by the U.S., serves to prop up three repressive leaders — Trump, Netanyahu, and bin Zayed — and will cause further harm to Palestinians. It is both a shame and a sham.
Many in the Arab world are saying that the normalization of Israeli-UAE relations demonstrates the failure of “Arab nationalism,” but Nada Elia says this idea was invented to begin with and was never a true basis for solidarity.
Palestinian officials are doubling down on their plans to boycott a US-led conference in Bahrain next month aimed at garnering regional support for President Donald Trump’s peace plan. However, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two major regional players, announced Tuesday evening that they would be sending delegations to participate. The Saudis and the Emiratis, who in recent years have significantly warmed relations with Israel, are the first two Arab powers to announce participation in the event.
Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump administration was focused on Russian interference in U.S. politics, but his findings highlight some highly questionable contacts that people close to Trump’s transition team had with representatives of another government that has intervened massively in U.S. policymaking in recent years: the United Arab Emirates.