The United Arab Emirates has issued a long-sought invitation to the Israeli prime minister to visit, but with a sting in the tail: President Assad of Syria will be there too.
The UAE led an Arab charge in 2020 to normalise relations with Israel, which no Gulf country had recognised. The Abraham Accords, signed also by Bahrain and later Morocco and Sudan, were heralded as a sea change. But the UAE has grown critical of the recent far-right turn in Israeli politics and has refused to invite Binyamin Netanyahu since he regained power in December.
At the same time, a move among the Gulf states to reconcile with their historic rival Iran has held up further “normalisation” deals with Israel, particularly by Saudi Arabia. A
