Emiratis turning against normalisation with Israel, Dubai academic says

A popular Dubai-based academic has said Emiratis are turning their backs on Israel and the UAE's normalisation of ties.

The two countries agreed to normalise ties in 2020 through the Abraham Accords brokered by the US during the Trump administration. They have since signed cooperation deals in fields including tourism, with non-stop flights now operating from Israel to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

But academic Abdulkhaleq Abdulla said he does not know of any Emiratis who had taken advantage of the improved ties to visit Israel as tourists.

"To my knowledge, no Emirati has been to Israel this summer, and whoever has been has done so secretly, ashamed and disguised, "Abdulla said on Twitter on Tuesday.

"The farce that welcomed Israel has ended," he said.

Abdulla cited March 2022 polling figures from the Washington Institute which found that the Gulf's public's stance towards normalisation had hardened since Bahrain, Morocco and the UAE agreed to normalise ties with Israel almost two years ago.

In the UAE, just one-quarter of TWI's respondents said they felt positively about the Abraham Accord.

"When first polled in November 2020, attitudes in the UAE and Bahrain were effectively split as to whether they saw the agreement in a positive or negative light," the think tank said earlier this month.

Some Emiratis replied to Abdulla's tweet in disagreement, saying that they or someone they knew had visited Israel as tourists recently.

Abdulla's comments follow US President Joe Biden's visit to the Middle East earlier this month with stops in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Biden administration has been pressing for Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalise ties prior to the visit, though Riyadh appears to have pushed back against such a deal.