Israel received its first ambassador from the United Arab Emirates, building on the normalization treaties brokered under former President Donald Trump.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met UAE envoy Mohamed Al Khaja on Monday during a ceremony in Jerusalem. Rivlin, who greeted Khaja in Arabic, highlighted the significant nature of the ambassador’s arrival while delivering remarks.
“This is a moving ceremony for me, as president of Israel,” Rivlin said, according to the Times of Israel. “We believed that if we waited patiently, the right time would come in which we would be able to take our ties a step forward. To deepen the friendship between us. To make it public.”
“Our countries have a shared ethos: a small country committed to turning arid land into a flourishing garden, against all the odds,” Rivlin said, adding that his country welcomes Khaja’s arrival.
SUDAN BECOMES THIRD COUNTRY TO SIGN ‘ABRAHAM ACCORDS’ AGREEING TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL
The UAE, followed by Bahrain and later Sudan, made history and signed treaties with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords, which were brokered by the Trump administration. They were the first Arab countries to do so in more than a quarter of a century, after Jordan (1994) and Egypt (1979).
“Our two countries have the largest and most important economies in the region,” Khaja said. “I will make every effort to make these relations ever tighten, to close the gap between the two countries and their people.”
“The vision which begins today is one which seeks a more flourishing, more stable future,” the diplomat said Monday. “The two nations have a shared mission: to establish peace and security throughout the region.”
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Khaja is still looking for a place to put an embassy and reportedly plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials in the coming days.
