Netanyahu cancels visit to Emirates over dispute with Jordan

Benjamin Netanyahu  canceled his first official visit to the United Arab Emirates because of a dispute with Jordan over the overflight of its airspace, according to his office.

There will certainly be a double two – after the trip to the United Arab Emirates did not take place, the Israeli Prime Minister has already promised the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyane that this visit, the very first after the normalization of relations between the two countries, will take place very soon. But if, at first, the head of the government of the Hebrew state explained this cancellation by a dispute with Jordan, he provided other details by intervening Saturday on Channel 13.

He explained in particular that his plane had not used Saudi airspace because of possible Houthi missile fire – as a reminder, tensions have been rekindled in the area in recent days.

“There were also problems a week ago” in its skies, the Prime Minister said without giving further details.

Dispute over the Temple Mount

At issue, the dispute around the Temple Mount, mentioned by Benyamin Netanyahu during the explanation of the reasons for the cancellation of his trip to the Emirates, and related to the proposed visit to the Al-Aqsa mosque, located on the Esplanade of the Mosques. The Israeli side announced that it was canceled due to the lack of consensus on security arrangements, while Jordan said that it was the prince himself who gave up his trip.

In any case, on Thursday difficulties arose in coordinating the flight through Jordanian airspace.

Important visit?

As a reminder, last September, the Israeli Prime Minister signed agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to normalize relations under the auspices of the United States.

 Netanyahu was scheduled to meet with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyane, who is the de facto ruler of the Emirates, a Gulf country that recently normalized relations with the Jewish state, according to Israeli media.

The trip was canceled “due to difficulties in coordinating his flight through Jordan’s airspace,” his office said in a statement in Hebrew, without giving a date for a future visit.

According to this source, the dispute with Amman is related to the cancellation by Israel this week of a planned visit of the Jordanian crown prince to the Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian sector of the Holy City annexed by the Jewish state.

The prince’s visit was cancelled due to “a disagreement over security arrangements at the site,” according to Netanyahu’s office.

Jordan did not immediately comment on the news.

Israeli media had earlier suggested that the prime minister would cancel his visit due to his wife Sara’s hospitalization for appendicitis.

Mr. Netanyahu, who is playing for his political survival in the parliamentary elections of March 23, had already postponed in early February his visit to the Emirates and Bahrain because of travel restrictions imposed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

These two Arab states signed agreements last September to normalize their relations with Israel, negotiated under the auspices of Donald Trump’s United States.

In the wake of these agreements, many trade agreements have been signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, which has since March 1 an ambassador for the Hebrew state.

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon with the Czech and Hungarian heads of government, Andrej Babis and Viktor Orban, who are visiting Israel to discuss vaccines and the fight against the coronavirus, his office said.

The Israeli military inadvertently disclosed the locations of secret bases after publishing an overly comprehensive list of Covid-19 test sites in occupied Palestine, a newspaper discovered. The error was later corrected.

The Haaretz newspaper said on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, that the Israeli army mistakenly published a map showing the locations of its military sites and bases, including secret ones.

According to the newspaper, the Israeli army’s home front command had published the map as part of the clarification of coronavirus testing locations for soldiers, and many secret military sites and bases of the air force as well as the intelligence services and others appeared.

Haaretz called on the Israeli army to replace the published map, while the Zionist regime’s army spokesman admitted that it was published in error and was replaced.

It should be noted that the Israeli army had never published any information about these bases.

In addition, while confirming the illegal entry of a vehicle into a major air base in southern occupied Palestine, the Israeli army said that a ground and air investigation has been launched to find the fleeing suspect.

Israeli media reported last month that several suspects in a vehicle invaded the Nevatim airbase before fleeing.

The Israeli military said several suspects in an “apparently stolen” car invaded the air base and the vehicle was stopped at a distance with flat tire barriers, but the suspects began running into the base area.

“We stress that guards are posted at the base… IDF and police forces are pursuing the suspects, with the help of the air police unit, ground defense units, military and air force scouts,” the Zionist regime’s army had said.

A video posted on social networks showed police helicopters flying over the area.

The Israeli army was trying to make it look like the unauthorized entry into this important airbase was harmless and a coincidence, while Israeli media had already published reports on the “security nature” of the incident.

The Israeli Air Force military installation is known to be the site where Israel’s fleet of Lockeed Martin F-35 fighter jets is currently based.

Holding four elections in two years undermines public confidence in the democratic process, Israeli president said.

According to a report by “Palestine al-Youm”, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday expressed his concern over the holding of four elections in two years and the situation of the regime while casting his vote.

The Zionist regime’s parliamentary (Knesset) election was held on Tuesday March 23, 2021.

This is the fourth time in the last two years that the Zionist regime has held a parliamentary election. The fragile coalitions of the ruling parties were the main reason for the shortening of the terms of the recent cabinets.

The right-wing Likud Party led by Benjamin Netanyahu and the Yesh Atid Party led by Yair Lapid are in the main race. If one party can form a majority coalition with allied parties, it can lead the next cabinet.

According to the latest information from the Zionist regime’s election committee, voter turnout was 25.4 percent, down 2.2 percent from previous elections.