According to two sources who spoke with the Arab outlet Al-Joumhuriya, Syria's interim president al-Sharaa – also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani – held a meeting with the Israel's National Security Council chief in Emirati capital. One source called the encounter a pivotal step in the ongoing Syrian-Israeli dialogue, some six months after the toppling of the Bashar Assad regime. The sources – a Syrian with knowledge of the negotiations and a regional diplomat – verified that this was not their first meeting.

Two weeks ago, Israel Hayom revealed that Hanegbi told Knesset members in a confidential Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee session that Israel maintains direct communication – beyond just indirect channels – with Syria's leadership, including al-Sharaa. On matters of security and diplomatic coordination, Hanegbi confirmed he personally manages these efforts, amid talks of possible ties between Israel and Syria. He also highlighted Syria and Lebanon as leading contenders for normalization with Israel.

In his comments about Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani), Hanegbi was addressing lawmakers concern about a potential Israeli withdrawal from the Syrian buffer zone currently under IDF control. Hanegbi indicated flexibility, stating, "If normalization occurs, we will consider this option."

Hanegbi identified Syria and Lebanon as prime candidates for normalization agreements with Israel, building on the Abraham Accords model. His testimony confirms recent international media reports regarding direct Israeli-Syrian communications while exposing the scope of discussions that encompass both military and political spheres.

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After winning the gold medal in the women's 50-meter breaststroke at the World Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi on Friday, teen swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko scored another gold on Sunday when she won the 100-meter medley final.

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Gorbenko completed her swim in 57.80, a new personal best.

"This is my best time, what more could I ask? I came to have fun with my friends and do the best I can," Gorbenko said.

Culture and Sports Minister Chili Tropper said, "Anastasia Gorbenko does it again, proving herself a great athlete! Another gold medal in Abu Dhabi, and an unprecedented achievement. Congratulations on the second win, which is the result of hard work, leading to an enormous victory. We're proud of you, Anastasia."

On Friday, Gorbenko became the first Israeli to win a gold medal at the Short Course Championships.

"It's special to me and my country being here in Abu Dhabi after we have peace with them [the UAE]. Representing my county is such an honor," the swimmer said after her victory Friday.

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Israeli judoka Gefen Primo won a bronze medal Friday at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam in the United Arab Emirates, competing in the under-52 kg category.

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On her way to victory, she won against Yuri Nakauchi (Japan) and Iraoui Soumiya (Morocco). She was defeated by Chelsie Giles (Britain) in the semifinals. In the match for bronze, Primo defeated Polish judoka Aleksandra Kaleta.

"Although the grand slam ended with 'only' a bronze victory, I am very pleased with Gefen's abilities," coach Shany Hershko said. "In recent months, we have invested great effort in developing new elements, which, to my delight, have been reflected in competitions in Paris and Abu Dhabi. Gefen's medal collection from recent competitions is impressive and puts her in an excellent starting point for 2022."

At the Paris Grand Slam, Primo won gold.  

Primo said she was "always happy to finish a competition with a medal. I don't underestimate any kind of medal, but to be honest, I feel disappointed that I didn't eat least reach the final. I feel I am in good shape, and I feel that the hard work I put in helps me advance. I am motivated to persevere.

"And even though I am the one who wins medals, I would like to express my gratitude to my coach Shany Hershko, the team coach Ido Bar, who helps me a lot, President of the Israel Judo Association Moshe Ponte and the team."

Timna Nelson Levy, who also competed at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, in the under-57 kg category, won a match against Lkhagvatogoo Enkhrilen (Mongolia) but lost in the semifinal against Priscilla Gneto (France). She suffered another defeat in the match for bronze against Faiza Mokdar (France).

Shira Rishony, who competed in the under-48 kg category, lost in the quarterfinals and was also defeated in the repechage.

Primo's younger sister, Kerem Primo, who competed in the under-57 kg category, bowed out of the competition in its earlier stages, failing to make any of the final rounds.

On Saturday, Gili Sharir, who competed in the under-63 kg category, won a match against Anastasiia Antipina (Ukraine) but lost to Lucy Renshall (Britain) in the quarter-final. Sharir also lost in the repechage.

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Legal reforms in Abu Dhabi designed to enhance the emirate's appeal to foreigners will allow for non-Muslim judges, birth certificates for children of unmarried parents, equality of men and women as witnesses, and new alimony and inheritance laws.

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The new secular law, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, intends to make the political capital of the United Arab Emirates more attractive for outsiders to live and work.

It has been welcomed as a step forward for gender equality.

"It gives a lot of rights to women which did not exist before," said Hassan Elhais, a legal consultant from UAE-based Al Rowaad Advocates. "It is revolutionary."

The UAE's tourism and business hub Dubai – usually more avant garde than Abu Dhabi – could  follow suit and craft its own family laws too. That would help the UAE keep a competitive edge in luring investment as conservative Gulf neighbor Saudi Arabia opens itself up to bring in foreign money and talent.

Foreigners, mostly from South Asia, Egypt and the Philippines, account for about 88% of the UAE's nearly 10 million population, fueling all aspects of the economy from executive positions to low-paid construction and domestic workers.

The Family Law for Non-Muslim Expatriates in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, announced on Sunday and expected to come into force in December, allows for "personal status" procedures – such  as divorce, inheritance and marriage – to take place for the first time in the country outside of religious codes.

It also allows non-Muslim judges to preside over family issues for the first time anywhere in the Gulf.

It introduces the concepts of civil marriage, no-fault divorce and joint child custody. And, also for the first time in the UAE, it allows babies born to unmarried foreign parents to obtain birth certificates if the father recognizes paternity.

The new law could also give more credibility to Abu Dhabi court judgements when parties apply for them to be recognized in, for example, Europe, Elhais said.

While next door Saudi Arabia has introduced social reforms to reduce gender segregation, lift a ban on women driving and dismantle many aspects of a male guardianship system, personal status laws are still governed by sharia.

That is the case in other Gulf states and the wider Middle East, with some exceptions. Christian and Jewish codes similarly apply on family matters in countries such as Israel and Lebanon.

Many aspects of sharia family law give more standing and rights to men, such as where two female witnesses are considered the equal of one male witness in family court procedures. Abu Dhabi's new law says female witnesses are equal to male.

Rothna Begum, of Human Rights Watch, said the law is an important step towards providing equality, but wider legal reform was required to include all citizens and residents in the UAE, which is made up of seven emirates.

"The UAE should instead pass an optional civil code as well as reform its Personal Status Law to ensure equality between men and women in all matters relating to marriage, divorce, inheritance and decisions concerning children," said Begum.

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In one potentially problematic area, expatriate couples in Abu Dhabi, which has a population of about 2.9 million, need to opt into the secular system. That opens the possibility for a husband, for example, to insist on entering the sharia system instead.

Abu Dhabi's reform comes a year after the UAE at a federal level started to reform its legal system to make it more attractive for investment. Changes included decriminalizing premarital sexual relations and alcohol consumption, and cancelling provisions for leniency when dealing with so-called "honor killings."

The Gulf state also introduced longer-term visas as a way to attract and retain talent and encourage more businesses to set up shop.

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The United Arab Emirates aims to raise the value of economic activity with Israel to more than $1 trillion in the next 10 years, hoping to work together on everything from healthcare to climate change and energy, the UAE economy minister said.

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The Gulf Arab state has signed dozens of memorandums of understanding with its new ally in the year since it became the first Arab state to normalize ties with Israel this century.

It was not immediately clear how the two countries expect to reach $1 trillion in economic activity in the next decade. Each country has a gross domestic product of roughly $400 billion.

The UAE and Israel have between $600 million and $700 million in bilateral trade, the minister, Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, told a virtual conference on Monday. Reaching that level in one year was "an achievement by itself," he said.

"We are looking to create over $1 trillion dollars of economic activity over the next decade," he said, adding they are "moving into so many areas of economic opportunities."

Israel says it expects $1 billion in trade with the UAE by end-2021 and $3 billion in three years, far below the UAE's $24 billion of exports in 2019 to its top destination, Saudi Arabia.

"A new window of opportunity has been opened since that agreement, and the economy is changing the face of the region and will offer a diplomatic infrastructure for strengthening ties between us," said Adiv Baruch, chairman of the Israel Export Institute.

Publicly announced deals include around 40 MoUs and around 30 other types of agreements related to the financial, energy, sports, agriculture, aviation, aerospace, and media sectors.

However, a $3 billion fund announced by the United States, Israel. and the UAE on private sector investment and regional cooperation has gone quiet, as has a $10 billion fund of UAE private and state money to invest in Israeli strategic sectors.

Israel's Export Institute and Bank Hapoalim, one of Israel's largest banks, said it planned to send a mission of 250 businessmen and entrepreneurs to Abu Dhabi and Dubai next month.

The mission is aimed at companies designated by the UAE as having the potential for cooperation in high tech, as well as companies in construction, industry, and smart transportation.

Official Israeli data shows Israel-UAE trade in goods was $610 million in the first seven months of 2021, $400 million of which was UAE exports to Israel and half of that was diamonds.

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The Israeli national jiu-jitsu team won a whopping 11 medals at the European Championship in Germany this week.

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On the first day of the competition, two athletes won golds − Vicky Dabush, who defeated her French opponent, and Meshi Rosenfeld, who beat her opponent from the Russian team. On the same day, two other fighters – Nimrod Ryder and Alon Jan – each pocketed a bronze medal.

On the second day of the competition, Roni Nissimian won a gold medal, and athletes Saar Shemesh and Shaked Nissimian pocketed silvers. Three fighters – Roy Dagan, Avi Ibragimov, and Noa Lifshitz – went home with bronze medals. Nadav Bar-Gil also won a bronze medal.

The Israeli athletes now have their eyes set on the World Championships, slated to be held in November in Abu Dhabi, where they will hopefully qualify for the World Games scheduled to take place in July 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Altogether the Israeli team won three gold, two silver and six bronze medals.

Arik Kaplan, president of AYELET (the Federation Of Non-Olympic Sport In Israel) congratulated the athletes on their achievements.

"These are outstanding accomplishments, especially considering how challenging the past year was for all of us. I wish the athletes success at the upcoming World Games," he said.

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The leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain congratulated Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett on his new role as prime minister, Sunday.

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On Twitter, the Emirati Foreign Ministry wrote: The #UAE congratulates Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on the formation of a new #Israeli government."

In a follow-up tweet, the Emirati Foreign Ministry said: "We look forward to working together to advance regional peace, strengthen tolerance and coexistence, and embark upon a new era of cooperation in technology, trade, and investment."

Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed congratulated Foreign Minister and Prime Minister-designate Yair Lapid and wished him success in a phone call in which they discussed "bilateral cooperation between the two countries, in addition to the Abraham Accords," the minister's office wrote in a tweet on Monday.

Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman sent a congratulatory telegraph to Bennett, in which he expressed his sincere wishes to the newly formed government for success in its tasks "in a way that strengthen the pillars of development, stability, and peace in the region and the world," Bahrain's state news agency said on Monday.

World leaders extended their congratulations to Israel's new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, following the Knesset vote that ended Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu's 12-year run as prime minister.

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Following the news the American Jewish Committee was set to open an office in Abu Dhabi, the organization hosted United Arab Emirates Foreign and International Cooperation Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan at its 2021 AJC Virtual Global Forum, Monday.

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Al Nahyan spoke about the Abraham Accords, relations with the United States, and extremism in the Middle East in a videotaped interview with Jason Isaacson, AJC chief policy and political affairs officer.

Al Nahyan noted that the coronavirus pandemic played a role in the normalization agreement, creating the opportunity for a breakthrough in negotiations.

"There is recognition that science will play a much bigger role in our thinking going forward. It is only possible when you have successful technological countries, like the UAE and Israel, in the region come together," he said. "Such a partnership was due, but COVID has made us move in that direction much faster."

For Al Nahyan, the accords could lead to greater peace in the region since they provide tangible evidence of Arab countries working with Israel in what he called a "people-to-people" relationship.

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He also spoke extensively about the threat of extremism from radical groups and ideologies in the Middle East and Europe, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood.

"Our threshold in challenging extremism and radical ideas has not been appropriate," he said. "Extremism cannot be acceptable. Hate cannot be acceptable. Making excuses for violence cannot be acceptable."

He explained that countries, especially in Europe, divide terrorist groups into political and military wings when the organizations themselves do not make the same distinction.

Following the Al Nahyan interview, AJC announced it would expand Project Interchange – an AJC educational program to introduce Israel to leaders from around the world – to host delegations of policymakers and opinion influencers from countries that signed the Abraham Accords.

The first seminar in Israel for Arab Gulf leaders is slated to take place in November, with a second group set for January 2022. The new AJC office in Abu Dhabi will be involved in arranging the delegations.

"The groundbreaking expansion of AJC's Project Interchange to include visits from and to Arab countries is aimed at reinforcing regional collaboration and, as a consequence, the circle of peace," CEO David Harris said in a press release.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org

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The National Library of Israel in Jerusalem and the National Archives of the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi have signed a historic memorandum of understanding, the two organizations announced in a joint statement on Wednesday.

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The memorandum, which was signed by the institutes' directors, Oren Weinberg and Abdulla M. Alraisi, commits both institutions "to work together in support of mutual and separate goals and for the benefit of the international cultural and documentary heritage sector," according to the statement.

Valid for an initial period of three years, the agreement lays out several areas for collaboration, including "digitization and digital sharing of holdings and research materials; professional knowledge-sharing; cultural exchange, such as conferences, workshops, training, study tours, exhibitions; and more."

As for the digital sphere, several specific initiatives are already being discussed, according to the statement.

David Blumberg, chairman of the National Library of Israel's Board of Directors, said that such cultural collaborations would serve as the cornerstone for lasting ties between the two countries.

"I have no doubt that the real leap forward in ensuring sustainable peace and cordial relations over time will be in the realm of cultural ties and in the importance of respect for other cultures. I am certain that close collaboration between the National Archives of the UAE and the National Library of Israel will serve as a cornerstone in ensuring warm relations for the mutual benefit of both countries into the future," he said.

UAE National Archives director Alraisi said that collaboration with the NLI would help fulfill the Archive's central mission to "document the memory of the homeland for generations."

"Here we are today trying to complete our mission by reaching the holdings of the Israeli National Library to enhance the holdings of the National Archives with more documents, books, and periodicals that were issued in the Hebrew language, which has become of great significance to intellectuals and those interested in history, heritage, and contemporary sciences," he said.

Founded in 1892, the NLI, Israel's main research library, is now building a landmark new campus, next to the Knesset in Jerusalem, which is scheduled to open next year.

The UAE's National Archives was established in 1968 under the name "Documents and Research Bureau," to gather and preserve documents and information relating to the history and culture of the Arabian Peninsula in general and the UAE in particular. In 1972, its name was changed to the Center for Documentation & Research.

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Israel and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to cooperate in the field of healthcare, the Health Ministry announced Wednesday.

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The agreement, an initiative of the Health and Foreign Ministries, will see Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi join forces on several fronts, including in the fight against pandemics as well as the cybersecurity and data protection fields. The agreement will also see the enactment of large-scale joint economic and health-related projects.

Israeli officials in attendance at the signing of the accord included the director of the Health Ministry's International Relations Division, Dr. Asher Shalmon, Israel's UAE Ambassador Eitan Na'eh, and Israel's special envoy to the Arab Gulf states Zvi Heifetz. On the Emirati side, UAE Health Authority chief Yusuf Muhammad Elsarkel attended the event.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, who signed the agreement, said the accord would "bolster Israel's healthcare system" in the coming years.

Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed their historic deal normalizing relations at a White House ceremony on Sept. 15, 2020.

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