Israeli minister insults UAE as Arab-Israeli accords turn acrimonious

Israeli transportation minister, Miri Regev, caused controversy recently with derisive comments about the United Arab Emirates that raised concern among her colleagues about the state of relations between Israel and one of its most important Gulf Arab partners.

“I’ve been to Dubai,” Regev said on Wednesday. “I won’t be going back. I don’t like the place.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen was quick to counter the comments with his own tweet: “I [love] Dubai, and so do one million Israelis that visited the UAE last year,” and added emojis of peace between the two countries. The Gulf Arab state was a key player in the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020, agreeing to establish diplomatic relations with Bahrain and Israel.

However, Israeli relations with its Arab neighbors have become strained in recent weeks, with far-right members of the coalition that helped return Benjamin Netanyahu to the prime minister’s office responsible for delivering several blows. Cohen’s tweet was followed by a statement from Netanyahu’s office on March 12 saying that “Israel and the UAE maintain fruitful political relations in all fields, including today,” in response to a report that Emirati officials had warned Jerusalem that the behavior of Netanyahu’s coalition was impeding cooperation between the two countries.

This foreign policy dispute has come against the backdrop of an intense domestic dispute over a judicial reform law that opposition leaders regard as an effort to assert political control over the judiciary. The overhaul is championed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and was launched following a deal to secure his participation in a coalition to give Netanyahu a parliamentary majority.

Jordanian officials and Emirati officials criticized Smotrich for his statement that denied the existence of the Palestinian people while standing at a podium with a map of greater Israel that included Jordan and parts of Syria. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel called the comments “deeply concerning and dangerous”. Despite the controversy, Netanyahu’s team and the Israeli Foreign Ministry have reiterated Israel’s commitment to peace with Jordan.

After her speech, Regev tweeted that she had accepted an invitation to Dubai and accused the media of misrepresenting her comments: “A few minutes ago, I spoke with my friend, the ambassador of the UAE, Mohammed al-Khaja. He also understood what the media was trying to do, taking things out of context. The attempt at a conflict between the two countries became an invitation for another visit.”