Egyptian President, Israeli Prime Minister, UAE Crown Prince Hold Tripartite Meeting

Israelis were surprised to hear on Monday that their prime minister, Naftali Bennett, had suddenly traveled to Sharm El Sheikh, in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, for a previously unannounced meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. But the drama was only beginning.

A few hours later, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, showed up in town, for what was blandly described in the Emirati press as “a fraternal visit to Egypt.” The crown prince and the Egyptian president, it was reported, would meet to review “issues of interest, and the latest developments on the regional and international scene” and to affirm “the importance of strengthening Arab solidarity in the face of common challenges.” Only later did the UAE admit the obvious: The “common challenges” to be faced were broader than issues of Egyptian-Emirati bilateral concern and required more than just “Arab solidarity”; the meeting would include Israel’s prime minister.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office was similarly vague, saying only that the leaders “discussed the ties between the three countries and ways to strengthen them on all levels.”