Cabinet approves visa-free travel from the UAE

The cabinet voted in favor of a visa-free agreement with the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, which would allow Israelis and Emiratis to travel between the countries without the need to obtain a visa. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that this is the first time. that Israel is signing such an agreement with an Arab country. “This is an important step for mutual tourism,” Netanyahu said. “It will open and strengthen ties between countries and economic ties. I believe that the citizens of Israel and the entire world see the tremendous change we are making in our region. ” Netanyahu pointed to the Bahraini foreign minister’s visit to Jerusalem last week, as well as Sudan’s abstention in an anti-Israel resolution at the UN. Last week, the UAE national airline Etihad Airways announced that it would begin daily direct flights to Israel from March 2021. The budget airline flydubai plans to operate 14 weekly flights to Tel Aviv from The Cabinet also approved agreements with Revised US to extend reach to Judea and Samaria.

These agreements, called BSF, BIRD and BARD, involve donations to American and Israeli academics and companies for scientific, industrial and agricultural research. The changes to them mean that US taxpayers’ money can go to research conducted by Israelis in the West Bank. They initially said that projects carried out under the agreements “cannot be carried out in geographic areas that were under the administration of the Government of Israel after June 5, 1967, and may not relate to issues primarily relevant to such areas. ”This change was announced last month, in line with the announcement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the US no longer considered West Bank settlements illegal per se. The revisions mean there will no longer be any no agreement between Israel and the US With territorial limitations. The agreements will go to the Knesset Finance Committee for approval, following a cabinet vote. Also on Sunday, the cabinet approved Alali Adamso as Israel’s ambassador to Ethiopia, Burundi and Chad. Adamso, who will be based in Addis Ababa, is the first political appointment of Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, although it was a legislator. or of the Likud for five months in 2012 and 2013, and adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Ethiopian-Israeli community. More recently, Adamso established his own party, which did not pass the electoral threshold, and supported Azul y Blanco. Tamano-Shata tweeted that Adamso “is a professional and dignified person who has come a long way since moving to Israel from Ethiopia. He was a pioneer and fulfilled a series of functions for the benefit of the public. “