by Ayman Ahmed
Shamelessness would be too soft a word to describe how the United Arab Emirates (UAE) welcomed an Israeli-American delegation in Abu Dhabi today even as the Zionists continued to bomb and kill Palestinians, especially in Gaza.
The joint US-Israeli delegation on an El Al flight from Tel Aviv overflew Saudi Arabia. The Zionist entity and Saudis do not have formal diplomatic relations but that did not prevent the Najdi Bedouins from opening their airspace to the airline of the occupying regime of Palestine.
The delegation was received at the tarmac in Abu Dhabi by UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash.
Donald Trump’s uppity son-in-law and White House advisor Jared Kushner led the joint US-Israeli crowd.
He crowed about its "success".
Accompanying him were US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, US Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz and other US officials.
The Israeli delegation was led by National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, clearly indicating what will be the focus of two days of discussions in Abu Dhabi.
“While this peace was forged by its leaders, it is overwhelmingly desired by its people,” Kushner claimed upon landing.
How he came to this conclusion was not clear. Has there been any public opinion survey to determine how the people feel?
There are no elections in Abu Dhabi.
It is a tribal sheikhdom that was created and installed in power by the British and now survives at the mercy of the Americans.
The two other Arabian regimes—Egypt and Jordan—that signed peace treaties with the Zionist entity have not been able to convince their people to accept dealings with the illegal occupiers of Palestine.
As the US-Israeli delegation arrived in the UAE, there were two explosions in restaurants in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
One explosion occurred in KFC store in Abu Dhabi and the other in Hardees in Dubai. Both are American food chains.
Three people were reportedly killed in the blasts.
Blamed on gas malfunctions—in two American franchises simultaneously and on the same day?—the Abu Dhabi regime tried to downplay the blast.
It told residents “to avoid spreading rumours” about the blasts, and “use official news sources”.
What rumours? Surely the regime cannot deny that there were blasts in two US-owned restaurants hundreds of kilometres apart.
And why should people accept “official news sources” when the regime had claimed that establishment of relations with Israel resulted in the Zionist regime halting its annexation of large parts of the West Bank.
Contradicting the UAE claim, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly stated that annexation was still on the table. Did that make the Emiratis pause their normalization plan with the Zionists? Perish the thought!
Not surprisingly, the Palestinians are appalled at the breakneck speed at which the Emiratis are embracing the Zionists.
Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh denounced the Israeli visit to Abu Dhabi in no uncertain terms.
“It is very painful to see today the landing of an Israeli plane in the United Arab Emirates in a clear violation of the Arab stance on the Arab-Israeli conflict,” PA news agency Wafa quoted him as saying.
The Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, that rules the besieged Gaza Strip, also condemned the UAE.
The visit to UAE and Israeli El Al flight over Saudi territory represented a “stab in the back of the Palestinian people, a prolonging of the occupation, and a betrayal of the resistance of the [Palestinian] people,” said Hamas in a statement today.
Abu Dhabi had hoped that Israel would not object to the sale of US F-35 stealth fighter jets to the UAE.
The ever-arrogant Netanyahu kicked the Emiratis in the teeth by saying he opposes the sale of US stealth fighter jets to the UAE that could reduce Israel’s strategic edge in the region.
The UAE has never fought Israel and it has no common border with the Zionist entity. The Emiratis, like most Arabian rulers, are very keen to kill other Muslims such as in Yemen, Syria, Libya and host of other places.
Like the Zionists, shedding Muslim blood is what they do best.
Despite two public humiliations inflicted by the Zionists, the Emiratis shamelessly laid out the red carpet to welcome the Zionists and their American allies in Abu Dhabi.
This is what happens to illegitimate rulers. While they oppress and terrorize their own people, they surrender to the enemies of Islam and Muslims and call it a move toward “peace”.
The weak always present their abject surrender as peace. But the masses know instinctively that they cannot and must not accept injustice.