UAE Suspends Summit With Netanyahu and Top Biden Official, Report Says

The United Arab Emirates suspended preparations for a summit in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a Biden administration official and heads of the Arab states that normalized relations with Israel last year were supposed to attend in April, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported on Thursday.

UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed is outraged at what he sees as Netanyahu exploiting the normalization deal with Israel as a part of his election campaign.

During one of his campaign rallies, Netanyahu said that the UAE plans to invest "tens of billions of dollars" in Israel, further claiming that he had received a guarantee from bin Zayed assuring the immediate investment of 10 billion dollars.

On Wednesday, Emirati former Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said that the UAE "will not be a part of any internal electioneering in Israel, now or ever," pouring cold water on reports of a planned visit by Netanyahu.

In a tweet, the former minister stated that "from the UAE’s perspective, the purpose of the Abrahamic Accords is to provide a robust strategic foundation to foster peace and prosperity with the State of Israel and in the wider region," rather than interfering in internal elections.

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The suspension of this summit comes one week after Netanyahu was set to make his first official visit to the UAE last Thursday since the two countries agreed to normalize ties, but Jordan did not approve the flight path of Netanyahu's plane in time.

A day earlier, Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah canceled a planned visit to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound over a dispute regarding security arrangements at the site. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi told CNN that Jordan is "angry" with Israel over the canceled Jerusalem visit.