The Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Israel, Mohamed Al Khaja, hosted a traditional Iftar banquet at the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv, bringing together dignitaries, officials, and representatives of Israel\u2019s diverse religious communities.<\/p>\n
The event, attended by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, members of the Knesset, and foreign diplomats, emphasized tolerance, peace, and coexistence amid ongoing regional instability.<\/p>\n
In his address, Ambassador Al Khaja acknowledged the \u201celements of chaos\u201d affecting the region, citing the exploitation of the holy month of Ramadan by extremist groups to incite violence, division, and racism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThose forces fear peace, because peace exposes the emptiness and incapacity of extremism,\u201d he said discussing the contrast between celebrations in other parts of the world and the anxiety experienced in some Arab cities and villages in Israel.<\/p>\n
Focusing on Israel\u2019s Arab society, Al Khaja emphasized the importance of fostering unity and dialogue. \u201cOur gathering embodies a refined model of coexistence, communication, understanding, and interconnectedness among the various components of society within the State of Israel,\u201d he said, noting the presence of Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Druze at the banquet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He added that the politicization or weaponization of religion is one of the region\u2019s most dangerous challenges, stressing that \u201call our religions call for peace and coexistence. Religion is for God, the homeland is for all, and terrorism has no religion.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Isaac Herzog, in his remarks, echoed the ambassador\u2019s focus on the challenges faced by Israel\u2019s Arab citizens, describing the region as beset by \u201celements of chaos\u201d but underscoring the resilience of its communities. Herzog highlighted the critical role of Israeli Arabs in strengthening the country\u2019s democratic fabric and praised initiatives fostering integration, dialogue, and mutual respect.<\/p>\n
The “Peace Corridor”: Work on train linking Israel to UAE continued in secret<\/p>\n
The event marked the fourth consecutive Iftar hosted by the UAE embassy in Israel, symbolizing a growing commitment to the Abraham Accords and regional peace. Ambassador Al Khaja concluded by reaffirming the UAE\u2019s vision for the Middle East: a future where dialogue prevails over division, cooperation replaces conflict, and societies across Israel and the region can celebrate shared values and coexistence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Israel, Mohamed Al Khaja, hosted a traditional Iftar banquet at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-311944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}