Israelis are openly enjoying the glitz of Dubai after a US-brokered peace deal allowed them to travel there for the first time in decades.
In scenes that would have been unthinkable just a few months ago, an Israeli bride and groom were pictured hoisted on the shoulders of skullcap-wearing groomsmen and carried toward the dance floor, where dozens joined the throng swaying and singing in Hebrew.
Noemie Azerad and Simon David Benhamou didn t just throw a somewhat normal wedding bash in the middle of a pandemic that has shut down their country and ravaged the world.
They were reveling in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, which like most of the Arab world had been off-limits to Israeli passport holders for decades.
In new playground Dubai, Israelis find parties, Jewish rites - Region - World
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Israeli tourists in Dubai: UAE peace deal lifts Iron Curtain
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Package-tour diplomacy: Thousands of Israeli tourists flock to Dubai after peace deal Steve Hendrix © Christopher Pike/Reuters People pose for a picture as they celebrate Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, in Dubai on Dec. 10. DUBAI Ashish Negi prides himself on spotting the nationality of tourists as soon as they walk into his jewelry store so he can be jokey with Americans, chatty with Brits and ready to bargain with Russians but he was baffled by the man in the tall black hat and the curly sideburns who came in last week. “This was something I had not seen in Dubai,” Negi said of the first ultra-Orthodox Jewish visitor to reach his corner of the city’s traditional gold market, part of a wave of Israeli tourists who have descended on the United Arab Emirates in recent days. “It is very good to have new customers to learn about.”