Emirati leaders extended a long-sought invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attend the U.N climate conference, known as COP28, in November.
The United Arab Emirates’ President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum also invited Israel’s figurehead President Isaac Herzog and dozens of other leaders including Syrian President Bashar Assad to COP28, in Dubai.
The Israelis did not immediately accept the invitation, but Netanyahu thanked the Emiratis for the gesture.
השגריר @AmbAlKhaja מסר מכתב מטעם נשיא #UAE הוד מעלתו השייח' @MohamedBinZayed, וסגן הנשיא וראש ממשלת #UAE הוד מעלתו השייח' מוחמד בן ראשד אאל מכתום @HHShkMohd, לנשיא מדינת ישראל @Isaac_Herzog ולרוה"מ @netanyahu המזמין אותם להשתתף בוועידת האקלים #COP28, שתיערך בדובאי בנובמבר הקרוב. pic.twitter.com/H5amjaHu5s
— UAE Embassy in Israel (@UAEinIsrael) May 22, 2023
The invitation falls short of the high-profile bilateral visit Netanyahu has sought. But a trip to the Gulf Arab country would nonetheless give an important boost to the Israeli leader who has established official ties with the UAE as part of the 2020 Abraham Accords, normalizing relations between the two countries. Netanyahu has repeatedly called for closer ties with Arab countries across the region, but has yet to pay the UAE an official visit since the accords were signed.
The annual U.N. climate talks are designed to keep countries accountable to their pledges to cut down on carbon emissions.
In November, the talks in Dubai will be hosted by Sultan al-Jaber, the chief executive officer of the Emirates’ state oil company. Choosing the oil-rich emirate as well as al-Jaber to host the climate conference has drawn criticism from various environmental groups and activists.
(AP)
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Sholom chevre, this morning I read a really really spot-on actual-journalism article that I highly recommend to anyone reading this particular article. It is titled “AP news is not news, it’s paid for marketing” on Substack by El Gato Malo (bad cattitude). Bkitzur, AP received substantial funding from climate change advocacy groups to push climate change stuff. Newspapers, facing financial constraints, predominantly publish AP’s wire stories instead of conducting their own journalism. So, now we get a lot of climate change marketing pitches from supposed news sources. Anyway, no joke, reading it this morning I thought I really would like to recommend the article in a comment on YWN but figured it would be best to wait till YWN ran an AP article on climate change. Didn’t have to wait too long… it ran one this afternoon! Lol. I wasn’t expecting it would be that quick!