United Arab Emirates to host US Jewish leaders

Leaders from several Jewish organizations in the US will visit the United Arab Emirates in a bid to improve relations between the Arab world, the American Jewish community and Israel.

By: World Israel News Staff

Malcolm Hoenlein, who serves as executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, will travel with a delegation of community leaders to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the coming days in what many see as another sign of warming ties between Gulf states and the Jewish world.

The visit is a component of Hoenlein’s organization’s annual leadership mission, preceding its annual conference in Jerusalem, which begins a week from Sunday.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai are on the itinerary for the community leaders, whose mission is to “foster better ties with the US, the American Jewish community and Israel” Hoenlein told the Jerusalem Post.

The visit follows both Hoenlein’s trip to Qatar in November, during which he met with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and visits by other US Jewish leaders to Qatar in 2018.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Hoenlein has maintained “covert ties” with the Arab and Muslim leaders for years, “regularly hold[ing] meetings with the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Azerbaijan and other Middle East states.”

Hoenlein reportedly met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2011, prior to the onset of the brutal civil war there.