Labour Friends of Israel chair Jon Pearce MP has become the first British MP to travel directly from Israel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Relations between Israel and the UAE were normalised as part of the Abraham Accords, signed in 2020, during US President Donald Trump’s first term in office. The agreement also saw Israel normalise ties with Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.
Ties between Israel and the UAE – and direct flights between the two countries – have since been maintained despite Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Before heading off to the Gulf Emirate, the Labour MP for High Peak met with released British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari and her mother, Mandy, bringing them a personal note from Prime Minister Keir Starmer
The LFI chair also met senior Israeli politicians, including the country’s president Isaac Herzog, opposition leader Yair Lapid, and the leader of the Democrats Yair Golan, as well as deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel.
LFI Chair Jon Pearce MP with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid (Image: Labour Friends of Israel).[Missing Credit]
In the UAE, Pearce met Ali Rashid Al-Nuaimi, a leading Emirati parliamentarian involved in championing the Abraham Accords, Britain’s ambassador to the UAE, Edward Hobart, Yehuda Sarna, Chief Rabbi of Abu Dhabi's Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue, and Abdulla Al Shehhi, the Acting Executive Director of the Abrahamic Family House – an interfaith complex that contains a Mosque, Synagogue and Church – in Abu Dhabi.
LFI Chair Jon Pearce MP (left) with Britain's Ambassador to the UAE Edward Hobart (Image: Labour Friends of Israel).[Missing Credit]
Pearce said that the fact that British parliamentarians can now travel between Israel and the UAE, something that was impossible just five years ago, “shows that old barriers can come down and progress towards peace and coexistence is possible."
LFI Chair Jon Pearce MP (left) at the Abrahamic Family House – an interfaith complex that contains a Mosque, Synagogue and Church – in Abu Dhabi (Image: Labour Friends of Israel).[Missing Credit]
He added: “I shall be exploring with both Israelis and the UAE how Britain can help widen and deepen the normalisation process and how we ensure that this supports and enhances the path towards a two-state solution and an end to the tragic conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.”
LFI has called on the government to establish a special envoy for the Abraham Accords, with the status of an ambassador, tasked with encouraging additional countries to normalise relations with Israel and advance British interests.
It comes after the former head of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove told the JC that the expansion of the Abraham Accords could be “very, very good for the Middle East,” and that the normalisation of ties between Israel and Sunni Arab nations could also serve the UK’s interests and lead to increased security ties between London and Jerusalem.
Speaking to reporters in the White House earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said that he predicted that more countries would be added to the Abraham Accords.
“You’re going to see countries start to fill up the Abraham Accords. More and more countries want to join”, he said following a cabinet meeting.
Trump described the agreement he helped negotiate as a “great success” and “tremendous success” before attacking his predecessor Joe Biden who he claimed “did zero with it”.
