First UAE National Council delegation visits Israeli parliament

Three members of the UAE's Federal National Council have visited Israel's parliament on Monday, becoming the first Emirati delegation to the country since the two states normalised ties in 2020.

"When we talk about Abraham Accords agreements, we want you to look at the big picture," Ali Rashid Al-Nuaimi, chairman of the council's defence, interior and foreign affairs committee, said at the Israeli foreign and defence committee.

"It's not a political agreement only, it's not an issue related to security and defence issue. No, it is an agent of change for the whole region," Nuaimi said, advocating "full engagement in all sectors".

Prior to the visit to the Knesset, the Emirati delegation visited Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial.

The UAE became the third Arab nation to normalise ties with Israel after Egypt and Jordan, a move slammed by Palestinians and most Arab nations as a betrayal of the Palestinian cause.

Al-Nuaimi said that after the 2021 war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza, "people were questioning what will happen to the Abraham Accords", the name of the agreements brokered under the Donald Trump administration

"I want everyone to know there is no way back, we are moving forward, we are not repeating history, we are writing history," he said.

Ram Ben Barak, head of the Israeli foreign and defence committee hosting Al-Nuaimi as well as fellow Federal National Council members Sara Falaknaz and Marwan Almheiri, called his guests "neighbours and brothers".

"There's a misconception, as though the normalisation agreement was based on just one element, of shared threats and challenges, but that's the smallest part of the deal," he said.

"Israel is committed to the agreement and plans on enhancing and expanding it in all fields."

Signing the so-called Abraham Accords sparked angry protests among pro-Palestine activists and the Arab public, with many calling for a boycott of the UAE.

Since the deal, the UAE has signed a number of military, economic and cultural agreements with Israel.