Tel Aviv City Hall was lit up in the colors of the Israeli and United Arab Emirates (UAE) flags on the evening of Aug. 13 to celebrate the agreement to normalize relations reached between the two countries earlier in the day.
Video footage shows lights projected on the building alternating between images of the two flags on its exterior walls:
https://twitter.com/SVNewsAlerts/status/1293974922872729600?s=20
The American Jewish Committee tweeted that it was “touching.”
Touching: @TelAviv City Hall is displaying the flags of the UAE🇦🇪 and Israel🇮🇱 in celebration of today's historic peace agreement. https://t.co/Xs8bBQYjnt
— American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) August 13, 2020
StandWithUs CEO and co-founder Roz Rothstein similarly tweeted, “It’s official when the @TelAviv municipality lights things up! #Israel and #UAE have a peace deal — Hopefully one giant step for mankind. Time will tell …”
Its official when the @TelAviv municipality lights things up! #Israel and #UAE have a peace deal — Hopefully one giant step for mankind. Time will tell… https://t.co/mJusI5QbpU
— Roz Rothstein (@RozRothstein) August 13, 2020
Israel-Jewish Congress Executive Director Arsen Ostrovsky also tweeted, “2020, maybe there’s still hope for you yet!”
2020, maybe there’s still hope for you yet! #Israel #UAE 🇮🇱 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/AT5bFS4Tut
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) August 13, 2020
The agreement, which the United States helped broker between Israel and the UAE, establishes diplomatic ties between the two countries and, over the coming weeks, Israel and UAE will sign agreements establishing economic relations. The two countries also will work together to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
Israel also will suspend its plans to annex parts of the West Bank as part of the agreement, although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that the suspension of annexation is only temporary. A senior White House official, on the other hand, told Axios that “annexation is off the table until further notice.”
Myriad Jewish groups have praised the agreement as historic. The progressive group J Street, which has been staunch critics of President Donald Trump and Netanyahu, is among the groups praising the agreement.
“This decision by Prime Minister Netanyahu signals a major retreat from repeated threats to carry out de jure annexation, and indicates that efforts to oppose annexation — in Israel, the US and around the world — have achieved significant success,” J Street said in a statement. “Annexation would be disastrous for Israeli security and democracy and for Palestinian rights. Clarification will be needed that this is not simply a short-term suspension of a disastrous idea, and the United States and the international community should be demanding that Israel commit permanently not to proceed with any unilateral annexation.
“The agreement between Israel and the UAE to move toward fully normalized ties is also welcome news for all who wish to see a stable and prosperous Israel living in peace and security alongside all of its regional neighbors,” J Street added. “It is just the latest evidence that dialogue and diplomacy, rather than unilateral action and belligerence, are the route to long-term security.”
The Palestinian Authority (PA) condemned the agreement in a statement, accusing the UAE of “betraying Al-Aqsa, Jerusalem and the Palestinian cause.” The PA also recalled its ambassador from the UAE in protest; the PA also plans to convene an emergency Arab League meeting to discuss the agreement.
