Likud Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer travelled to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday for a secret visit intended to pave the way for a later visit to Abu Dhabi by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to a report Monday by the Hebrew-language Walla! News outlet, Dermer is the first Israeli minister to visit the UAE since the establishment of the new government.
Netanyahu was invited to visit the UAE by the country’s president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, during a phone call to congratulate the prime minister on forming his sixth government.
Although the UAE signed the historic Abraham Accords during Netanyahu’s previous government, the prime minister did not have the opportunity to visit Abu Dhabi and Dubai at the time, due to a delay by Jordan in approving his flight path over the Hashemite kingdom.
