Israel hosted a summit with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Arab ministers. It is the first time the Jewish State holds a meeting with four members of the Arab League that is : Morocco, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. It comes almost two years after the Arab states normalised diplomatic ties with Israel.
The group mainly discussed about the revival of the Iran nuclear deal and the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the region.
All attendees condemned the terrorist attack in the northern Israeli city of Hadera on Sunday night which resulted in the death of two Israeli police officers. The attack was claimed by the militant Islamic State group. Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, praised the attack as a “heroic operation”. It is the second deadly attack carried out by Arab assailants in an Israeli city in less than a week. Both attacks came ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Although peace between Palestinians and Israelis was not on the agenda of these talks, Antony Blinken reaffirmed american support for the two-state solution.
Shortly after meeting the US top diplomat, Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was diagnosed with COVID-19.