Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on June 25 that the two countries are collaborating to combat COVID-19.
The Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a June 25 speech at an Israel air force graduation ceremony that the two countries will be partnering on “research and technology development, in areas that will improve the health security of the entire region.”
“[The partnership] will bring a blessing to many in our region,” he later added.
A UAE Foreign Ministry spokesperson later tweeted, “In light of strengthening international cooperation in the fields of research, development & technology in service of humanity, two private companies in UAE sign an agreement with two companies in Israel to develop research technology to fight COVID-19.”
The Post’s Lahav Harkov noted on Twitter that in May, she had reported that the UAE, along with Bahrain and another unnamed Gulf Arab nation, had contacted Israel about potential partnerships in the fight against COVID-19. Yoel Hareven, director of Sheba Medical Center’s International Division, told Harkov at the time, “There are a lot of things happening above and below the surface. [The Gulf Arab nations] believe very strongly in the connection with Israeli medicine and Israel generally.”
Additionally, since March, the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have been cooperating with each other against COVID-19.
However, the Times of Israel noted that UAE Minister of State Yousef Al-Otaiba wrote in an op-ed earlier in the month that Israeli annexation of the West Bank could derail progress on relations between Israel and the Gulf Arab nation states.
“We face too many common dangers and see the great potential of warmer ties,” he wrote at the time. “Israel’s decision on annexation will be an unmistakable signal of whether it sees it the same way.”
As of this writing, there are 22,800 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Israel and 314 deaths from the virus.
