Israel, Egypt, UAE Hold Surprise Trilateral Summit in Sinai

JERUSALEM, Israel – Israel’s prime minister met with Egypt’s president and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi in a surprise visit to Sinai on Monday.

The three leaders discussed “shared security interests,” according to an unnamed diplomatic source cited by The Jerusalem Post. 

Emirati state news reported that Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Shiekh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the Sinai resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. It was also the second time Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett sat down with the el-Sisi.  

Officials told AP the talks centered on the repercussions of the war in Ukraine. 

The first-ever trilateral summit between Israel, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates comes as Jerusalem attempts to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. Israel has strong relations with both Russia and Ukraine and is attempting to walk a diplomatic tightrope between the two nations. 

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Both nations have significant Jewish populations and Israel collaborates with Russia on military operations in Syria.

While the UAE and Egypt have also strengthened their ties with Russia in recent years, they both called on Moscow to end its invasion of Ukraine in a vote at the UN General Assembly. 

Officials who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity said the leaders also discussed the ongoing negotiations between world powers to restore the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal. Israel and the UAE share concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, but Israel says it poses an existential threat to the Jewish State.

The trilateral meeting was made possible through the US-brokered Abraham Accords, which saw Israel normalize ties with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.

Egypt became the first Arab country to reach a peace agreement with Israel in 1979.