Netanyahu, senior officials meet with UAE’s first ambassador to Israel
“We’re changing the Middle East. We re changing the world,” says the Israeli premier.
Mohammed Fateh Ali Al Khaja (left), the United Arab Emirates first ambassador to Israel, meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on March 2, 2021. Credit: Koby Gideon/GPO.
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(March 3, 2021 / JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Tuesday with the first United Arab Emirates Ambassador to Israel, Mohamed Mahmoud Fateh Ali Al Khaja, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
“We’re changing the Middle East. We’re changing the world,” said Netanyahu, congratulating the ambassador and telling him how glad he was to see him.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has received the first-ever ambassador to Israel from the United Arab Emirates, following the agreement between the countries last year to normalize relations. According to The Times of Israel, UAE envoy Mohamed Mahmoud Al Khajah arrived in Israel on Monday and delivered his credentials to Rivlin during a ceremony in Jerusalem. […]
There was no immediate statement from Al Khajah on the meeting.
The UAE’s first ambassador to Israel, Mohammad Mahmoud Al Khajah, presents his credentials to President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem on March 1, 2021. (Mark Neyman/GPO)
Al Khajah arrived Monday in Israel and presented his credentials to President Reuven Rivlin. He also met with Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.
The Emirati envoy will spend several days in the country, scouting out suitable locations for the embassy and his home. He will then return at a later date on a more permanent basis.
The UAE was the first country to agree to establish full diplomatic relations with the Jewish state under the Abraham Accords, a pact brokered by former US president Donald Trump.
A top national religious rabbi joins the chorus of right-wing, religious voices against the High Court of Justice’s ruling legitimizing non-Orthodox conversions carried out in Israel.
“No High Court decision can turn a goy into a Jew,” says Rabbi Druckman, saying that would be akin to a person seeking the court’s help after the doctoral degree he received from the bus drivers’ union was rejected. “There are matters that the High Court cannot settle.”
While he lambasted the decision, Druckman acknowledged that the Knesset had avoided legislating on the matter for a decade and a half, even after a special committee was formed to come up with a compromise plan.