Despite warnings from a senior Emirati official about the consequences of canceling the oil deal with Abu Dhabi, Hebrew-language sources reported that Tel Aviv had decided to review the deal.
The Hebrew-language newspaper Haaretz reported this morning (Friday) that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid were reconsidering the oil deal with the UAE.
Following the normalization of relations between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi, the Zionist company Katsa (Europe-Asia Oil Company) signed an agreement with the UAE that allowed Abu Dhabi to export oil to the world through occupied Palestine.
Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed quoted Haaretz as saying that Tel Aviv’s new energy minister, Karin Al-Harar, had publicly stated that the agreement “does not serve the interests of Israel and does not benefit the people and the economy of Israel, and if this agreement is canceled, we will not see any harm in this.”
Elsewhere in the report, the newspaper noted that the Tel Aviv cabinet’s decision to review the agreement was made when Israeli Environment Minister Gila Gamilil opposed the agreement and rejected it.
According to the report, an investigation by the Tel Aviv Ministry of Environment has shown that the transfer of UAE oil through the ports of Eilat and Ashdod, from the Eilat coral reefs to the deserts of Palestine and Ashdod, will severely damage the environment in these areas.
Haaretz also reportedly decided to hold a wider meeting on this issue, in particular with the participation of the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Justice.
Earlier, a senior Abu Dhabi official told Israel Hume that if Tel Aviv rescinds the agreement, it could lead to a crisis in relations between the two sides.
The unnamed Emirati official also stated that if the agreement is canceled, there is a possibility that the normalization agreements known as “Ibrahim” will be jeopardized.
Last September, the UAE and the Zionist regime, through the mediation of former US President Donald Trump, signed an agreement called Ibrahim and formally normalized their diplomatic relations.
After the signing of the agreement, the relations between the two sides witnessed a significant improvement in a short period of time, to the point that Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv signed a cooperation agreement with several delegations in various fields.