The Gulf and Beyond: Assessing Israel’s Expanding Arab Relations

In the last six months, a flurry of Arab states, including the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, established diplomatic relations with Israel or announced their intention to do so. The “honeymoon period” for Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain is coming to an end. Sudan and Morocco have yet to finalise details of their recognition of the Jewish state. Israeli and Emiratis basked in the warmth of the receptions that they received in each other’s countries and the prospects of a blossoming security, commercial and trade relationship.

Yet, despite a series of business deals and cooperation agreements in areas such as aviation, technology, agriculture and education, not all went according to expectations. Israel suspended the purchase of one of its most storied and controversial football clubs because of questions about the solvency of the Emirati buyer. An Israeli alliance of high-powered security and technology companies lost a bid for an Emirati cybersecurity center and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu cancelled visits to the UAE and Bahrain. In this webinar, a panel of prominent experts will assess the current state of affairs, as well as the prospects of more states – not limited to the Gulf region – in recognising the Jewish state.