Israeli Ambassador in UAE Says ‘Cooperation’ Is Key to Normalization, New Peace Model in Middle East as Israel Dedicates Its New Embassy
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- [Julie] New Foreign Minister Yair Lapid
is the highest ranking Israeli official
to visit the United Arab Emirates
since the signing of lastyear's peace agreement.
- This is an historic moment,
and it is a reminder that history
is created by peoplewho understand history
but are willing to change it,
people who prefer the future to the past.
- [Julie] In the capital of Abu Dhabi,
Lapid dedicated the Israeliembassy in a ceremony
that included Jewish prayer
and placing a mezuzah on the doorpost.
- Israel wants peacewith all its neighbors.
We aren't going anywhere.
The Middle East is our homeand we're here to stay.
So we call on all thecountries of the region
to recognize that to come to talk to us.
- [Julie] Lapid alsothanked leaders responsible
for bringing the AbrahamAccords to fruition,
the first peace agreement between Israel
and Arab nations in more than 25 years.
- To Israel's former primeminister, Benjamin Netanyahu,
who was the architectof the Abraham Accords
and who worked tirelesslyto bring them about.
I want to thank former USPresident Donald Trump.
- [Julie] Since the agreement's signing,
Israel has established severalhundred million dollars
worth of trade agreements with the UAE
and more than 200,000 Israelitourists have visited there.
Lapid also opened a consulatein the Emirate of Dubai.
- It's a place of life,of tourism, of business,
of dialogue between two talented peoples
who can and who want tocontribute to one another.
- [Julie] Ambassador Eitan Na'eh,
head of mission at theIsraeli Embassy in Abu Dhabi,
told CBN News the AbrahamAccords opened the way
for a different future.
- I think the Abraham Accords,
first of all, are a dream and a vision,
and now, we are down torealizing it, materializing it,
and really, rolling up our sleeves
and starting the hardwork of making it happen,
creating the new model of peace
and normalization in the Middle East
where cooperation is the key word.
- [Julie] Na'eh said it doesn't mean
there won't be challenges,
but there's a strategic decisionto build normal relations.
- Within a few weeks, we will sign
quite a few more agreements
to really cement the cooperationand the relationships
to show peoples andgovernments in the region
of what true, closerelationships look like.
- [Julie] Na'eh saidthey want other countries
in the Middle East to askthemselves, "Why not us too?"
Julie Stahl, CBN News, Jerusalem.