Emiratis accuse Netanyahu of exploiting normalization deal for election gain
CNN
The United Arab Emirates has publicly distanced itself from Benjamin Netanyahu over concerns the Israeli Prime Minister was using Abu Dhabi to boost his prospects in upcoming Israeli elections.
The diplomatic spat comes just six months after a historic normalization agreement, known as the Abraham Accords, was signed between the two countries. "The UAE signed the Accords for the hope and opportunities they provide our people, not individual leaders," an Emirati official told CNN.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has ordered preparations for the annexation of settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
More than 80 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon and northern Gaza since late Saturday, according to reports.
Several United Nations agencies are again sounding the alarm on the rapid deterioration of humanitarian conditions in much of Gaza and the civilian toll of more than a year of Israeli military operations.
France condemned the brief detention of two consulate members after it said Israeli police forced their way into a French-owned holy site in Jerusalem, in what is the latest diplomatic spat in a series of events that have sent relations between the two plummeting.
An Israeli airstrike on a multi-story building in northern Gaza killed at least 27 people, relief officials said, as the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders in the area – where it is mounting a major offensive.
If his first term in the White House is any indication, President-elect Donald Trump is likely to keep the Middle East high on his agenda.
Rights groups say journalist Reza Valizadeh has been detained, amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran.
A female student stripped to her underwear outside her university in Iran in what some student and rights groups say was a protest against the country’s strict Islamic dress code.
Israel is at a “high level of readiness” for a response from Iran, an Israeli military source told CNN, as US officials visited the Middle East for a renewed push to resolve the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. Follow live updates.