“We shouldn’t be giving the Beatles

advice about music.” » P.14

MIDDLE EAST

Multiple
Fronts
Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wages war on COVID-19 at
home while building ties with the UAE and guarding against Iran

IsraelI PrIme mInIster naftalI Bennett of Bennett’s delegation told Newsweek.

is seeking to build upon a series of peace
deals with Arab countries by fortifying ties with the
United Arab Emirates, even as he wages war on a
particularly contagious strain of COVID-19 at home.
RONEN ZVULUN/AFP/GET T Y; TO P R IGHT: ETHA N MILLE R/GET T Y
On his arrival, Bennett met with UAE Foreign
Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan
and later went on to hold a four-hour meeting
with Emirati Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed

Bennett’s historic December trip to Abu Dhabi bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “Straight from the begin-
marked the first by an Israeli leader to one of the five ning,” the senior Israeli official said, “the Prime
nations that signed the Abraham Accords, through Minister was greeted with open arms and im-
which four countries—the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan mense warmth. There was an instant connection.”
and Morocco—defied a decades-long Arab boycott The visit came at a time of dueling talks and
to normalize relations with Israel. The four are the tensions across the Middle East, where Iran, Is-
first to do so since Egypt and Jordan did decades ago. rael’s top rival, was also building diplomatic in-
Bennett’s reception by an honor guard at Abu roads into the Arabian Peninsula. About a week
Dhabi International Airport emphasized the level before Bennett’s trip, UAE national security ad-
of relations being built by the two viser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al
countries. “It was a meeting that Nahyan traveled to Tehran to sit
would have been unimaginable a BY
down with Iranian President Ebra-
few years ago, and I think that un- him Raisi.
derstanding was felt on both sides,” TOM O’CONNOR Iran and the United States have
a senior Israeli official who was part @ShaolinTom yet to come to a resolution alongside

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