Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a ceremony in Tel-Hai, northern Israel, February 23, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)
“Due to personal and election considerations, Netanyahu is torpedoing an important diplomatic journey and delaying the opening of the Israeli missions in Abu Dhabi and Dubai,” an unnamed official told the outlet.
Ashkenazi, from the rival Blue and White party, had also been expected to hold talks on having the UAE accept Israel’s “Green Pass” to allow vaccinated and recovered Israeli tourists to visit the Gulf nation without restrictions.
Ashkenazi was due to continue to Moscow after his trip to the Gulf, and that could still go ahead, the report said.
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Illustrative: Tribesmen loyal to Houthi rebels raise their weapons during a gathering against the agreement to establish diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that he was deterred from flying to the United Arab Emirates through Saudi airspace last week because of the threat of missile fire from Iranian proxies in Yemen.
Netanyahu had called off a visit to the Emirates on Thursday over a spat with neighboring Jordan, which had temporarily closed its airspace to the prime minister’s flight.
But rather than bypass Jordanian airspace and take a more southerly route through Saudi skies, Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 13, “there were also problems a week ago in the skies of Saudi Arabia,” referring to recent missile attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during his meeting with the prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán and Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Andrej Babis, in Jerusalem, on March 11, 2021. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly ordered the closing of Israeli airspace to flights heading to and from Jordan in retaliation for Amman’s delaying of a plane slated to shuttle the premier to the United Arab Emirates last week.
The order was passed along from the Prime Minister’s Office through the Transportation Ministry to the Civil Aviation Authority in an email on Thursday afternoon, just 45 minutes before it was slated to come in place.
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Illustrative: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Jordan in January 2014 (Kobi Gideon/GPO/Flash90/ File)
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi on Friday lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a canceled visit to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount by Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein.
Safadi confirmed that Jordan held up granting Netanyahu overflight permission in retaliation, causing him to postpone a planned visit to the United Arab Emirates.
The diplomatic spat underscored Jordanian frustrations with Netanyahu and tensions between the two neighbors that have simmered for years.
Speaking CNN on Friday, Safadi was asked if Netanyahu was correct in blaming “difficulties” with Jordan on coordinating the overflight for the postponement of his Thursday UAE visit.
Speculation about Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to the UAE percolated through the Israeli news media on Wednesday, focusing on whom he might be meeting with besides the official host, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed al-Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. The Kan public broadcaster reported “advanced contacts”