Netanyahu pressured by Right and Left to reveal details of UAE peace deal

Pressure building on Netanyahu to reveal the details of the agreement with the UAE: “There is no reason to hide.”

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Right-wing groups are pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday to reveal the details of the peace agreement that is expected to be signed with the United Arab Emirates this week at the White House, Walla News reported.

Non-parliamentary right-wing movements demanded that government ministers give the public details of the agreement, which was not presented to the government for approval and was been classified and with the details exclusively known to those in the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Do any of the decision makers in Israel know what is in the agreement with the United Arab Emirates? What are you going to sign? Is there anyone who can ensure that the agreement does not freeze construction in settlements or consent to a Palestinian state?” the organization My Israel tweeted, tagging eight prominent Knesset members in the tweet.

The editor of the right-leaning Makor Rishon newspaper, Hagai Segal, tweeted, “If the agreements with the Emirates and Bahrain are so wonderful, there is no reason to hide them from the government, the Knesset and especially from the public,” with the tweet getting the support of far-right Knesset member Bezalel Smotrich.

Senior officials involved in working on the agreement argue that there is no legal obligation to bring the agreements to the Knesset before signing, the report said.

The demand to disclose the agreements with the Gulf states and bring them to the Knesset for approval also got support from the left-wing opposition. Meretz Party chairman Nitzan Horowitz said after that reports of the U.S. selling advanced weapons to the UAE as part of the deal showed that the agreement should first be brought to Israel’s parliament for approval.

“The State of Israel is a democratic state, so the prime minister must act transparently and bring to the Knesset all the behind-the-scenes agreements,” Horowitz said. “Netanyahu’s lies regarding the sale of the advanced aircraft to the Emirates have been exposed to all.”

Netanyahu will depart for Washington Sunday and will attend the historic signing ceremony Tuesday at the White House under the auspices of President Donald Trump. Israel will establish diplomatic relations with the UAE and Bahrain.

“Tonight I will leave for Washington to sign the beginning of these agreements in order to set this historic change in motion,” Netanyahu tweeted at the cabinet meeting held before he left. “This is going to be a different kind of peace. This will be a warm peace, economic peace in addition to the diplomatic peace, also peace between peoples.”

“We now have two historic peace agreements, with two Arab countries, which were established in one month. I am certain that we all welcome the new era. We are at the threshold of a new era,” Netanyahu said.

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