{"id":2896,"date":"2018-11-07T12:30:01","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T23:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/?p=2896"},"modified":"2019-05-19T15:03:49","modified_gmt":"2019-05-19T03:03:49","slug":"israel-arab-ties-strengthen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/2018\/11\/israel-arab-ties-strengthen\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel-Arab ties strengthen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It has been a remarkable few weeks in Middle-Eastern politics. This included\u00a0<a style=\"color: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/Israel-News\/Israeli-Minister-makes-first-official-visit-in-Abu-Dhabis-grand-mosque-570577\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the historic visit\u00a0<\/a>of Miri Regev, Israeli Sports and Culture Minister, to the third largest mosque in the world (after Mecca and Medina), the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Regev was attending the International Judo Federation\u2019s Abu Dhabi Grand Slam &#8211; where,\u00a0<a style=\"color: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/in-first-hatikva-anthem-played-at-uae-contest-after-israeli-judoka-wins-gold\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">for the first time<\/a>, Israel\u2019s national anthem played and Israeli athletes were allowed to participate under their national flag.<\/p>\n<p>At about the same time, there was another history-making visit. Prime Minister Netanyahu made an \u201c<a style=\"color: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.pmo.gov.il\/English\/MediaCenter\/Events\/Pages\/event_oman261018.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">official diplomatic visit<\/a>\u201d to Oman. Following that visit Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Oman\u2019s Minister for Foreign Affairs,\u00a0<a style=\"color: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thetower.org\/6790-in-wake-of-netanyahu-visit-oman-calls-for-recognition-of-israel-at-regional-forum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told a security forum<\/a>\u00a0in Bahrain that, \u201cIsrael is a state present in the region, and we all understand this. The world is also aware of this and maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same [as other states] and to also bear the same obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These meetings also follow the amicable\u00a0<a style=\"color: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/netanyahu-meets-egypts-sissi-on-gaza-on-sidelines-of-un-gathering\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">talk between Netyanhu and Egypt\u2019s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi\u00a0<\/a>at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September; and comments made by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in March, when\u00a0<a style=\"color: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/international\/archive\/2018\/04\/mohammed-bin-salman-iran-israel\/557036\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">he told The Atlantic\u00a0<\/a>that, \u201cI believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The increasing recognition of Israel and co-operation is at least because of the shared threat posed by Iran. As well as Iran planning attacks in\u00a0<a style=\"color: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-denmark-security\/iranian-intelligence-service-suspected-of-attempted-attack-in-denmark-security-chief-idUSKCN1N41N4?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Denmark\u00a0<\/a>and<a style=\"color: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2018\/oct\/02\/france-blames-iran-for-foiled-bomb-attack-near-paris\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u00a0France<\/a>, Iran continues to\u00a0<a style=\"color: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/iranians-chant-death-to-israel-on-anniversary-of-us-embassy-takeover\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">threaten Israel and the USA\u00a0<\/a>and the\u00a0<a style=\"color: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;\" href=\"http:\/\/elderofziyon.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/iran-threatens-gulf-states-israel-with.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gulf States<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It is also likely that Arab nations realise &#8211; especially as\u00a0<a style=\"color: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;\" href=\"https:\/\/syria.liveuamap.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">multiple conflicts continue in Syria<\/a>&#8211; that Israel is not a major threat in the region, and may actually offer some possible solutions to conflict.<\/p>\n<p>The shifting politics will not be seen from UN statements and seldom reported in the NZ news but they are remarkable and historic steps in a volatile region. Hopefully,\u00a0the relationships will continue to grow and peace will spread.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It has been a remarkable few weeks in Middle-Eastern politics. This included\u00a0the historic visit\u00a0of Miri Regev, Israeli Sports and Culture Minister, to the third largest mosque in the world (after Mecca and Medina), the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Ms Regev was attending the International Judo Federation\u2019s Abu Dhabi Grand Slam &#8211; where,\u00a0for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4269,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2896"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4302,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896\/revisions\/4302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}