Israel president on 1st visit to UAE amid regional tension

By ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel’s figurehead president has met the powerful crown prince of Abu Dhabi on the first official visit to the United Arab Emirates by the country’s head of state. It’s the latest sign of deepening ties between the two nations. The UAE and Israel normalized relations in the fall of 2020, part of a series of U.S.-brokered diplomatic deals between Israel and Arab states that had long avoided formal relations with Israel over its decades-old conflict with the Palestinians. President Isaac Herzog’s trip to the UAE on Sunday comes as tensions rise in the region, with the Yemen war widening to reach Abu Dhabi this month and Iran nuclear talks approaching a critical phase.