Israel to set up embassy in Abu Dhabi by early-Jan

Dubai - An Israeli delegation visited the UAE last week to scout for location for the upcoming embassy

by Anjana Sankar

Published: Mon 14 Dec 2020, 12:55 PM

Last updated: Mon 14 Dec 2020, 1:01 PM

Israel will establish its embassy and consulate in the UAE by the first week of January, 2021, the country's foreign ministry has confirmed.

“We are hoping to have the inauguration (of the embassy) by the end December or the first week of January 2021. We will have the embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate General will be in Dubai,” a ministry spokesperson told Khaleej Times.

He said the embassy and the consulate would be ‘big’ in reflecting on the significance of the historic UAE-Israeli ties.

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“I cannot say whether the missions will be one of the biggest in the world. But I can tell you that our embassy and consulate in the UAE will be really big.”

Media reports from Israel, quoting diplomatic sources, said that the embassy “may even be as large as the missions in Washington, London and Moscow”.

The spokesperson said a ministerial delegation was in the UAE last week to scout for appropriate locations to establish the diplomatic missions.

“They visited both Dubai and Abu Dhabi last week. Nothing is decided yet on the location,” said the official.

The delegation also visited Manama in Bahrain, which is the second Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nation to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.

The UAE and Bahrain established diplomatic ties with Israel by signing the United States (US)-brokered Abraham Accords in Washington on September 15.

Israel handed the UAE a letter on September 25 expressing hope to open an embassy in Abu Dhabi soon.

Passenger flight services have opened between the two countries that have agreed on visa-free travel for their citizens.

Dubai’s budget carrier flydubai flew its inaugural flight to Tel Aviv on November 26. It operates flights twice daily between Dubai and Tel Aviv.

Israel’s national carrier EL AL’s first scheduled flight from Tel Aviv landed at the airport on Sunday morning. It will operate 14 weekly flights between the two destinations.

Photo: Reuters