UAE and Morocco Commemorate Holocaust

Video Of The Week - Palestinians throughout Gaza and the West Bank Celebrating the Massacre https://tinyurl.com/bdd7yby8

For the full article from theMedialine go to - https://tinyurl.com/2p9fz65j

Dubai’s Crossroads Museum of Civilizations to hold special event Saturday night remembering the victims of the Nazis and honoring the Muslims who saved Jews; Moroccan city of Tangier to host official ceremony in presence of dignitaries 

For the second consecutive year, two of the Arab countries that signed the Abraham Accords normalization agreement with Israel will hold events around International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday to remember the six million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis.

The Crossroads Museum of Civilizations in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates will commemorate the Holocaust at a ceremony on Saturday night organized in cooperation with the Israeli and German embassies there.

The UAE became the first Arab country to officially commemorate the Holocaust at a similar ceremony held last year.

The Crossroads Museum of Civilizations in Dubai was also the first museum in an Arab nation to include a special exhibition that commemorates the Holocaust and tells the stories of its survivors.

“It is very important to us that we focus on educating people about the tragedies of the Holocaust because education is the antidote to ignorance,” museum founder Ahmed Obaid Almansoori said in 2021.

The exhibition also has a section dedicated to the Arabs and Muslims who helped save the Jews from the Nazis.

The exhibition includes pictures and paintings identifying personalities such as Selahattin Ülkümen, the Turkish consul-general in Rhodes who saved the Jews of the Greek island from deportation to Nazi death camps, and Dr. Mohamed Helmy, the Egyptian physician who saved many Jews from Nazi persecution in Berlin. Helmy had been studying in Berlin and remained there throughout the Second World War, where he saw what happened to the people around him and decided to save Jewish families.

Also in the exhibition is a historical section in which rare collectibles are on display, such as a facsimile of the Worms Mazhor, a Jewish prayer book from the German city during the Middle Ages.

The museum will allow attendees to tour the Holocaust exhibition, and the event will be streamed directly via YouTube for those who cannot attend in person.

The museum told The Media Line that there will be recorded and live speeches about the Holocaust delivered during the event, as well an introductory tour on the Holocaust exhibit.

The UAE was the first Arab country to officially include the events of the Holocaust in the curriculum for students across the Emirates, where more than 200 nationalities reside.

In Bahrain, the King Hamad Center for Peaceful Coexistence has not announced any events to remember the Holocaust this year, but did host a commemorative event last year. 

Sources familiar with the center told The Media Line that its representatives were currently in the Italian capital Rome, to inaugurate the Declaration of the Kingdom of Bahrain – the founding manifesto of the work of the King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful Coexistence.

Morocco is holding a Holocaust commemoration in the city of Tangier, with the participation of some of the country’s dignitaries. A similar event was held last year at the Moshe Nahon Synagogue in Tangier.

While there is no official event this year, Ibrahim Robin, a member of the Bahraini Jewish community, told The Media Line that they hold an annual a Holocaust remembrance ceremony at the Ten Commandments Synagogue in the Bahraini capital of Manama. 

“There is great sympathy on the part of the Bahraini people for what the Jews have gone through. Bahrain is a peaceful people and does not accept any kind of injustice or criminality,” he said. 

“After the Abraham Accords [were signed], we have seen a greater light on the Jews in the Gulf, but the reality of coexistence with the Jews in the Gulf predates these agreements.”

Egypt and Jordan, the first two Arab countries to sign peace agreements with Israel, have not held any commemorations of the Holocaust in the decades since they signed those treaties.

Sudan, which is the fourth signatory of the Abraham Accords, will also not hold any events to mark the day. 

VIEW OUR WEBSITE WWW.BRITISHISRAELGROUP.WEEBLY.COM

Israel Signs Free Trade Deal with UAE

 Video Of The Week - Israel to Help Solve Europe’s Energy Shortage - https://tinyurl.com/yckrfs2k 

For the full article from the JPost by LAHAV HARKOV go to https://tinyurl.com/2p84zx99

Ambassador to the UAE Amir Hayek succinctly announced the signing of the agreement on twitter, tweeting "Done!" in response to a previous tweet on the topic.

Israel entered its first-ever free-trade agreement with an Arab state, when Economy Minister Orna Barbivay signed the deal with her counterpart in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

Ambassador to the UAE Amir Hayek succinctly announced the signing of the agreement on Twitter, writing “Done!” in response to a previous tweet on the topic.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett praised the FTA as “historic” and the fastest to be signed in Israel’s history. He thanked Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed Bin Zayed for accelerating the process.

 “We are continuing to warm the peace between the countries,” Bennett tweeted.

On Monday, Barbivay said her visit to Dubai was “of strategic importance to the economic relations between the State of Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Together we will remove barriers and promote comprehensive trade and new technologies.”

Israel and the UAE established full diplomatic relations in August 2020, in what is called the Abraham Accords. Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco followed soon after.

“Together we will remove barriers and promote comprehensive trade and new technologies,” she added.

Israel and the UAE established full diplomatic relations in August 2020, in what was called the Abraham Accords. Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco followed soon after.

Israel has 19 free agreements, including the one with the UAE. Israel also has a more limited free-trade agreement with Jordan, but the new deal with the UAE is much broader and is similar to those with the United States and the European Union.

The free trade agreement is the UAE’s second, following one with India earlier this year.

This agreement covers 96% of the trade between Israel and the UAE, which stood last year at $885 million.

That is more than double Israel’s $330m. in trade with Egypt in 2021, even though the two countries have had a peace agreement since 1979.

According to the Economy and Industry Ministry, the level of trade in 2020 stood at $120m. and at $1m. in 2010.

The FTA signing went forward as planned, even though the UAE criticized Israel a day earlier for allowing Jews to visit the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site.

“The UAE today strongly condemned the storming of al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard by extremist settlers under the protection of Israeli forces,” a statement by the Emirati Foreign Ministry read, calling on Israel “to take responsibility for reducing escalation and ending all attacks and practices that lead to the continuation of tensions.”

There was no documentation of violence by Jews or Israelis on the Temple Mount this week, though some did pray at the site in contravention of the rules for Jewish visitors. Some Muslims threw rocks at visitors and police from the Aqsa Mosque.

The UAE statement came a day after the annual Jerusalem Day flag march through the Old City, which was mostly peaceful, though some Jews and Muslims chanted calls for violence and there were some minor clashes, leading to about 50 arrests.

Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.

NEW VIEW OUR WEBSITE WWW.BRITISHISRAELGROUP.Y.COM

 

EXPO 2020 DUBAI - Israel Participates

Video Of The Week - Israel's Virtual Embassy in Gulf States - https://tinyurl.com/y4ryydxb

 Expo 2020, scheduled for October next year in Dubai.

From J.Post - BY MORAN ZAGA, JUNE 22, 2019 - https://tinyurl.com/y42dqjl4

 While Israel was excited to host the Eurovision competition in May, in the Arab Gulf States, international events are held almost on a daily basis. One of the most prestigious of them is Expo 2020, scheduled for October next year in Dubai. The Expo ranks as the third most important global event after the Olympics and the World Cup (slated for 2022 in neighboring Qatar). While 132 states had signed up for the fair as of August 2018, Dubai’s leadership continued to debate Israel’s participation. On April 2019, Expo organizers issued a festive statement saying all countries “without exception” were welcome to attend. “For more than 170 years, World Expos have been apolitical events focused on furthering humanity for the common good through innovation, cultural exchange, creativity and collaboration. We are proud to continue that tradition,” according to the communique. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the news, writing, “This is another expression of Israel’s rising status in the world and in the region.” Whether Netanyahu’s insight meets reality or not, Israel’s participation provides itself with an unusual diplomatic opportunity, for which it must prepare wisely to fulfill.

The Expo events afford tremendous economic values for the participating countries, as well as the opportunity to shape their national image within the global community. The exposure to millions of visitors and the platform for establishing direct contacts among diplomatic representatives and key figures from around the world generates a unique hub of diplomacy. Indeed, beyond its importance for Israel’s economy and image, Israel’s participation in this event, hosted by an Arab Muslim country it has no current and past diplomatic relations with, is a significant achievement, which reflects the nature of Israel’s current relations with the UAE.

On the one hand, the UAE, as the host of an international event, is expected by the international community to provide access to all countries, including Israel. As a result, the UAE and other Gulf countries have legitimized in recent years the arrival of Israeli nationals to international conferences and tournaments they hosted. In that sense, the UAE’s decision to invite Israel to Expo 2020 does not reflect a change in the status of ties between the two states, nor does it forecast the beginning of direct and formal relations. On the other hand, meeting this international code points to the UAE’s willingness to compromise on anti-normalization measures toward Israel.

Currently, the UAE government distinguishes between bilateral ties with Israel and international cooperation with it, leaving room to maneuver in the case of the latter. In the international realm, an Israeli representative office has been operating for the past three years in Abu Dhabi, the capital, under the auspices of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Israel and the UAE also conduct joint air force exercises and business cooperation in the fields of diamond trade and cyber technology, under international umbrellas. The UAE was a pioneer among the Gulf States in allowing an Israeli sports team to display its national symbols at the October 2018 international judo championship in Abu Dhabi, in which the Emiratis also hosted Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev according to full ceremonial protocol. Additional sports events in the UAE, such as tennis tournaments, a car race and the Special Olympics have also included growing participation of Israeli delegations in recent years.

Conversely, the UAE strictly limits bilateral relations with Israel, conditioning them on a resolution to the Palestinian issue. Accordingly, the country has been outspoken in its criticism of Israel regarding measures it defines as unjust toward the Palestinian people. Therefore, it does not cooperate with Israel in areas such as culture, research, tourism, industry and media despite mutual interests in doing so.

AT THE same time, we are witnessing a new phenomenon in which Gulf citizens express support for Israel and call for the establishment of direct ties with Israel on social media. Khalaf al-Habtoor, a leading Emirati executive, asked on Twitter why the Gulf States are not signing a peace agreement with Israel, the “same as Egypt, Morocco and Jordan have done before.” Such voices do not regard Israel as an enemy, and view cooperation with it as a vital source of regional stability and development. While not reflecting an official government line, they signal a gradual shift from a formerly taboo subject to an increasingly acceptable opinion. These expressions of interest in bilateral relations create a crack in the traditional demand that has placed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the key obstacle to normalization with Israel.

The gap between the official UAE policy toward Israel and the mutual courtship between the two nations demonstrates that Israel is on the cusp of a formative phase in these relations. At this point of time, Israel would do well to leverage the relative openness of the Gulf States toward it by expanding its involvement in the region. Just as Israel sought a formal invitation to Expo 2020, it should continue to identify opportunities, map scheduled international events in the Gulf and ask to participate. Israel should also invite Gulf countries to take part in international events it hosts.

One important issue that arises from increased interactions between Israel and Gulf States is the need to study the culture, values, sensitivities and local laws when preparing Israeli delegations for excursions in the Gulf. Such preparation should be overseen by a government agency, which will formulate a plan for ties with the Gulf States and will be put in charge of these ties through diplomatic, security, economic and civilian channels. By so doing, Israel’s presence in the Gulf could become more acceptable and even be expanded. However, if Israel seeks a more significant opening to the region, it must advance a resolution of the Palestinian issue through a genuine process that would also be of great benefit for its ties with the Gulf States. Above all, Israel must acknowledge these new nexuses of power in the Middle East and draw up a corresponding map of alliances. Its integration into the expanding circle of opportunities emerging around the Gulf countries has the potential to be triplicate beneficial, since it consists of bilateral, regional and international opportunities.

NEW ,VIEW OUR WEBSITE WWW.BRITISHISRAELGROUP.WEEBLY.COM