Prime Minister Netanyahu Indefinitely Postpones Visit to UAE and Bahrain

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indefinitely postponed his visits to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, with whom relations were normalized through U.S. mediation.

On the 4th (local time), the Israeli Prime Minister's Office stated in a press release, "Although the visits to the UAE and Bahrain are important, the Prime Minister has decided to indefinitely postpone the visits considering the suspension of passenger flights."

Despite conducting COVID-19 vaccinations at the fastest rate worldwide, Israel imposed a complete ban on international passenger flights starting from the 26th of last month due to the surge of the UK variant of the virus. Israel also closed land border checkpoints leading to neighboring Egypt and Lebanon.

Since August last year, Israel has successively agreed to normalize relations with Arab countries such as the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco through U.S. mediation.

Prime Minister Netanyahu had planned to make his first official visits to Abu Dhabi in the UAE and Manama, the capital of Bahrain, before the early general election scheduled for the 23rd of next month, but as the COVID-19 situation has not stabilized, he announced plans to reduce the scope of his tour.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.