Prime Minister Naftali Bennett paid an unannounced visit to Egypt on Monday, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
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A high-ranking government official told Israel Hayom that the tripartite summit had been planned secretly in the last few days.
While Israel preferred that news of the meeting would not be leaked, Egyptian officials reported it. Officially, the meeting was planned to mark the renewal of flights between Sharm el-Sheikh and Ben-Gurion International Airport, but according to the official in Jerusalem, the real reason for it was all three sides' anger at the US over the progression of the nuclear talks with Iran and the Biden administration's willingness to remove Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps from its list of terrorist organizations.
Video: Reuters
El-Sissi stressed Egypt's commitment to security in the Gulf and "rejection of any practices that seek to destabilize it," the presidency said in a statement.
According to a report in Haaretz, the summit was convened as part of an effort to forge a coalition, with US support, of countries – including Egypt, the Gulf states and Turkey – that will stand together against Iran. The report also said Israel was interested in convincing the UAE and Saudi Arabia to boost their oil production to offset Russian oil.
Israel is also interested in helping assist Egypt in finding alternative sources of wheat amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Al-Nahyan said he met with el-Sissi to discuss bilateral relations and regional and international developments, adding that Egypt and the UAE would maintain coordination and consult with each other on new global challenges as well as work together to secure their countries' interests in the region.
Prior to arriving in Egypt, al-Nahyan met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Abu Dhabi last week, a move that drew US condemnation.
JNS.org and Reuters contributed to this report.
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