Netanyahu Lands in Washington to Sign Normalization Deals with UAE, Bahrain

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed early Monday in the United States ahead of a Tuesday ceremony at the White House where he and the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain will formally establish diplomatic relations — Israel’s third and fourth such treaties with Arab states.

Netanyahu’s plane landed at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, DC, after Bahrain’s foreign minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, arrived Sunday evening.

The normalization of relations with the UAE and Bahrain follow Israel’s treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

קבלת פנים צנועה בחמש בבוקר בשדה בוושינגטון. אפילו השגריר דרמר לא התייצב pic.twitter.com/Qx4tfkJwVS

— Noa Landau נעה לנדאו (@noa_landau) September 14, 2020

Calling the trip “historic,” Netanyahu told Israelis in a televised address on Sunday evening that he had brought about “two peace deals in one month,” and said they would mean an economic boon for Israel.

“That’s always good, but it’s particularly good during the coronavirus,” he said.

Later, when Netanyahu and his wife arrived on the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport Sunday night, they boarded without speaking to the press. However, Mossad spy agency chief Yossi Cohen briefly chatted with reporters, saying he felt “great excitement” at the trip and expressing hope that other countries would join the UAE and Bahrain in normalizing ties with Israel.

“We’re working on it,” he said.

The stairs to the flight from Tel Aviv to Washington were adorned with Israeli, American, UAE and Bahraini flags, while the aircraft itself was painted with the word peace in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

History: #unitedarabemirates & #Bahrain flags next to the #Israeli flag, outside the @IsraeliPM plane upon his departure to the USA. We look forward to this historic visit here in Washington DC.#Peace #PeaceInTheMiddleEast #UAEIsrael #BahrainIsrael