Netanyahu Welcomes First Commercial Flight From Dubai to Tel Aviv
11/27/2020
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the first commercial flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Thursday.
Speaking during the ceremony, Netanyahu said the flight “opens the way for dozens of flights a week to Dubai, to the UAE, to Bahrain and to the east.”
In combination with a visa exemption on travel between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, “there is a great opening here for trade, the economy and tourism that, in effect, makes for a truly new and different Middle East, a meeting between peoples as well as meeting between leaders,” he said.
“We are crumbling the Israeli-Arab conflict and turning it into Israeli-Arab cooperation in order to produce not only a new future but also a new present, and we are doing so with dizzying speed. I think that the entire world is watching and understands that we are making history here, and we can all welcome this,” he added.
The Israeli premier noted that Israeli airlines were already flying over Saudi Arabia, calling it a “welcome change.”
Netanyahu reportedly made an unannounced trip to Neom, Saudi Arabia, himself on Sunday for talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Jerusalem, Washington and Riyadh have remained close-mouthed regarding the meeting, with Netanyahu saying only, “I never talked about these kinds of things, and I will not start now. I’m committed to strengthening Israel.”
Read More: Algemeiner