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Israel Prime Minister Holds Secret Historic Summit with Egyptian President and UAE Crown Prince

Writer's picture: Ron CantorRon Cantor

Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met in the first trilateral summit with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates Tuesday, in a meeting that was initially secret but was made public by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's office and then the other attendees.


The meeting comes on the heels of Syrian President Bashar Assad's visit to the UAE last week and the recent announcement of a new flight between Israel and Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. The Sinai resort town was the site of the secret summit.


While in Sharm el-Sheikh, UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan—who hosted Assad—briefed Bennett and el-Sissi about the meeting with the Syrian president. Bennett has expressed concern about Assad's growing push by the Arab world to normalize the dictator—but said that al-Nahyan's information about Assad's visit was "thought-provoking."


According to Bennett's office, the three leaders' discussions also focused on regional air defense—a hot topic for Israel and its neighbors who are facing a growing threat from Iran and its proxies. Bennett shared his vision for a regional air defense network, complete with a laser air defense system.


Iranian drones and missiles seem to be filling the skies of the Middle East recently. The Houthi rebels in Yemen (funded by Iran) have increased their drone and missile attacks on the UAE. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC—the group that the Biden administration is ACTUALLY considering taking OFF the terrorist list as a concession to get Iran to return to the 2015 failed nuclear deal!) fired 12 cruise missiles that hit near a US consulate in Erbil, Iraq.


"Even now, the IRGC terrorist organization is trying to murder certain Israelis and Americans around the world. Unfortunately, there is still determination to sign the nuclear deal with Iran at almost any cost – including saying that the world's largest terrorist organization is not a terrorist organization," Bennett and Israel Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in a recent joint statement. "This is too high a price." They believe that a deal is possibly two or three weeks away from being inked.


Bennett, el-Sissi, and al-Nahyan did not discuss the possibility of Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords, but Egypt's President el-Sissi demonstrated hospitality and warmth toward Israel: displaying the Israeli flag, inviting Bennett to stay the night in Egypt and accompanying the prime minister to his plane. Sissi's office released an official photograph of the three men, with the flags from all three nations prominently displayed.


The possibility of bringing the Saudis into the Abraham Accords did not come up during the meeting. However, the three leaders did talk about trade and tourism and "global developments" — such as the Ukraine-Russia war and its impact on energy, market, and food security in the region. Egypt gets about 80 percent of its wheat from Ukraine and Russia. Israel gets about half of its wheat from Ukraine.


And Israel continued to expand its global ties, as this week, after more than a half-century of connection with the Holy Land, Singapore announced that it will officially open an embassy in Tel Aviv. Israel already operates an embassy in Singapore. Also, Morocco announced that it has entered into a new cooperative agreement with Israel on several civilian aerospace projects.

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