Israel’s Foreign Minister Opens Embassy in U.A.E. After Detente

Mr. Lapid, the first Israeli minister to visit to the U.A.E. since the two sides agreed to normalize ties last year, is also set to meet his Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, and other senior officials in the capital. He is scheduled to open an Israeli consulate in Dubai, the U.A.E.’s commercial hub, a day later.

His trip is part of efforts to elevate a relationship that has produced so far only limited diplomatic progress and joint investment deals.

The two countries are working to craft a relationship that lives up to the hopes of a diplomatic agreement signed last year, known as the Abraham Accords. The U.S.-backed agreements, first negotiated with the U.A.E., and later Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, established Israeli ties with states that were either once hostile to the country or didn’t hold diplomatic relations because of Israel’s longstanding conflict with the Palestinians. A combination of the Covid-19 pandemic, flux in Israel’s politics and renewed Israeli-Palestinian tensions meant the accords haven’t met expectations yet, analysts say.

“It’s probably the perfect example of something that was very promising on paper,” Cinzia Bianco, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said of the Israel-U.A.E. relationship. “But so far, in the first year, it has disappointed.”

Israel had hoped the detente with the U.A.E. and other states would reorder its diplomatic position in the region, contain its archenemy Iran and draw investment from the Gulf into its thriving technology sector.

Israel and the U.A.E. have conducted around $675 million in trade since the signing of the normalization agreement in September, a fraction of the states’ trade with their biggest trade partners, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Israeli and Emirati companies also have signed agreements to develop technology and defense ties, and Abu Dhabi pledged to establish a $10 billion fund to co-invest with the Israeli government in the energy, manufacturing, water, space, healthcare and agri-tech sectors.

But there have been few significant deals. One potential investment, the sale of a 50% stake in one of Israel’s most famous soccer teams, Beitar Jerusalem, to a member of the Emirati family, was suspended earlier this year after questions arose about whether the royal had enough money. One of Israel’s largest energy companies also said it plans to sell its share of an offshore natural-gas field to U.A.E.-owned Mubadala Petroleum for $1 billion, but a deadline to complete the agreement has since passed. A spokesman for Mubadala said the deal remained on track.

Dorian Barak, founder of the U.A.E.-Israel Business Council, a group that seeks to facilitate trade and investment opportunities between the two countries, said a tumultuous year in Israeli politics, with an election and the ouster of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after 12 years in power, limited the development of the strategic relationship between Israel and the U.A.E. “The first major Israeli politician to visit just came. That is an indication of how stagnant things have been,” he said.

Last month, the new relationship faced its most serious test during the 11-day conflict between Israel and militant group Hamas, when Israeli airstrikes flattened buildings in Gaza and the country’s police stormed a holy mosque in Jerusalem. That catalyzed a wave of pro-Palestinian protests across the Middle East. Officials from the U.A.E., Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco—all countries that normalized ties with Israel—criticized Israeli actions during the hostilities.

While ties between Jewish and Muslim civil society have flourished, and hundreds of thousands of Israelis have visited the U.A.E., government-to-government relations have developed far less quickly. A senior Emirati official earlier this year said the U.A.E. wouldn’t get involved in electioneering as Mr. Netanyahu discussed the possibility of a visit to the Gulf state, which analysts viewed as a potential political win.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas—which killed more than 250 people, mostly Palestinians—illustrated the limitations of the U.A.E.’s open diplomatic relationship in influencing Israeli policies toward the Palestinians, said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a prominent Emirati political scientist. That position was echoed this week by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who in a meeting with Mr. Lapid said the Abraham Accords weren’t a substitute for direct engagement between Israelis and Palestinians.

The U.A.E., facing criticism from the Palestinians for normalizing ties with Israel absent a peace deal for them, has sought to portray itself as a peace-seeking mediator.

President Biden said Monday in a meeting with departing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the White House that his administration would continue to support the budding Israeli-Arab relations, and at the same time, wouldn’t allow Iran to produce nuclear weapons. Mr. Lapid is seeking to nurture ties with the Biden administration despite disagreements with American officials on the nature of U.S. negotiations with Iran to return to the 2015 nuclear deal.

The Iranian talks are likely to be high on the agenda for meetings between Mr. Lapid and Emirati officials this week. Both sides disapproved of the last accord and are trying to encourage the U.S. to broaden discussions this time to include Iran’s missile program and support for proxies across the Middle East.

Write to Rory Jones at [email protected]