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August 21st, 2020 
Awake Goy 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with leaders of the United Arab Emirates’ Jewish community Thursday, a week after Israel and the Gulf nation agreed to normalize diplomatic ties.
“This peace is good for the State Israel, good for our people and good for all peoples of the region,” he told them during a video call. “I hope to visit you this year, soon. If we can overcome the coronavirus pandemic I’ll be able to shake your hands too.”
His office released a short video clip of the call, which was held in Hebrew.
“We are at the start of a historic era… of widening peace between Israel and the Arab world,” Netanyahu also said in the clip.
Participating in the call were Ross Kriel, the president of the Jewish Community of the Emirates congregation, as well as Chabad rabbi Levi Duchman and Solly Wolf, who lead a second congregation.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates announced their agreement last Thursday afternoon. The sides “agreed to the full normalization of relations between Israel and the UAE,” they said in a joint statement with the US that was released by US President Donald Trump.
The small Jewish community welcomed the agreement, saying it would “allow Israelis to visit the UAE and share our daily experience of… tolerance and pluralism that typifies the UAE.”
In recent years, the UAE has made great efforts to portray itself as a tolerant country welcoming all religions, including Judaism. President Khalifa bin-Zayed al-Nahyan declared 2019 to be the “The Year of Tolerance” in the UAE. In this context, the country announced the building of a massive interfaith compound in Abu Dhabi that will also include a synagogue. The so-called Abrahamic Family House is slated to open in 2022.
A Jewish community has been operating in Dubai for a decade, initially with tacit support but more recently with overt backing from the local authorities, and is currently in the process of officially becoming a licensed religious community.
Estimates of how many Jews currently live in the UAE range from the low hundreds to 1,500. There are three different congregations — two Orthodox and one egalitarian.
Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.
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