Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held unannounced talks in Sharm el-Sheikh with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan on Tuesday.
UnitedwithIsrael Bennett’s visit to Sharm el-Sheikh was ostensibly to mark the resumption of direct flights between the Sinai resort town and Ben Gurion International Airport. But Israel Hayom reported that “the real reason for it was all three sides’ anger at the US over the progression of the nuclear talks with Iran and the Biden administration’s willingness to remove Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps from its list of terrorist organizations.”
Haaretz described the meeting as “part of an effort to forge a coalition among countries that in the past were considered adversaries of Israel – including Egypt, the Gulf states and Turkey – that would notably stand together against Iran.” Israel and numerous Arab states oppose the U.S. returning to the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran.
Iran reportedly has enough highly enriched uranium to build two nuclear bombs in just four weeks.
Washington has reportedly acknowledged to Israel that Iran is a “nuclear threshold state” in terms of uranium production and blamed former President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the JCPOA for Tehran’s advances. (Oh, please, the Arab countries didn’t see the need to form anti-Iran coalitions with Israel when Trump was in office)
U.S. officials previously stressed to Jerusalem that failing to revive the JCPOA would leave the Iranians weeks away from accumulating the materials needed for a nuclear bomb, as opposed months away under the terms of the current negotiations.
Israel and the Arab opponents of the JCPOA also fears that a premature lifting of sanctions will enable Tehran to boost its support for terror proxies across the Middle East. Removing sanctions would give Tehran access to around $100 billion in frozen assets.
Bennett and el-Sisi previously met in September in Sinai for the first time since the Israeli premier took office. September’s meeting also marked the first formal, public meeting between leaders of Israel and Egypt in a decade. Bennett and Emirati Prince Mohammed met in December at the crown prince’s private palace in Abu Dhabi to discuss Iran and bilateral issues.
Israel considered that visit – the first formal visit by an Israeli prime minister to the United Arab Emirates – as a resounding success. Both leaders developed a personal relationship that would help tighten ties between the Gulf states and Israel in the future, Israeli officials said.
Az gal says
Those Arabs look worried….
Ghulam says
Arabs…..what a bunch of pussies. They’re scared of the Persians like a wet kitten is in the bathtub.
If these Bedouins weren’t my coreligionists, I would want nothing to do with them.
BLR says
Israel has no recourse but 1st strike , he who’s country hesitates is lost , Iran at all costs has to be stopped from gaining a working nuclear arsenal .
Linda Rivera says
The Iran Loving US Regime of Traitors has wickedly betrayed, America, Israel, and America’s allies.
Israel, Please act quickly and prevent Iran’s God haters from waging a NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST on the world’s innocents.
Andrew+Blackadder says
keep your friends close and your enemies closer.