Photo Credit: Eitan Elhadaz / TPS
Opening the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Israel, in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange building.

In a historic first for the Gulf nations, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) opened its Embassy on Wednesday in the financial heart of Israel, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) building.

The UAE thus has become the first Gulf nation to establish an embassy in the Jewish State. Israel established its embassy in the UAE last month.

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The UAE Ambassador to Israel, Mohamed Al Khaja, raised the flag of his country outside the building with recently-inaugurated Israeli President Isaac Herzog standing by his side.

“Since the normalization of ties . . . we have seen for the first time discussions on trade and investment opportunities,” said the UAE Ambassador. “We signed major agreements across various fields including economy, air travel, technology and culture.”

Israel’s president called the opening of the UAE Embassy “an important milestone in our journey towards the future, peace, prosperity and security” for the Middle East. “Seeing the Emirati flag flying proudly in Tel Aviv might have seemed like a far-fetched dream about a year ago. In many ways nothing could be more natural and normal.”

Diplomatic relations between Israel and the UAE were established last September with the creation of the Abraham Accords the agreement brokered by America’s then-President Donald Trump that documents the normalization of ties between Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and shortly after also Morocco as well.

Since the signing of that agreement, bilateral trade between Israel and the UAE has exceeded $675 million, with more deals expected.

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Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.