Last week, Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister MK Sharren Haskel departed for Abu Dhabi with an official delegation to meet with senior Emirati officials as part of the five-year anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords. 

The Foreign Ministry said that Haskel's visit was meant to "continue strengthening and deepening relations between Israel and the UAE, expand cooperation in the economic, political and security spheres, and advance the expansion of the Abraham Accords to additional countries in the Middle East and around the world." 

While there, Haskel gave a keynote speech at an international conference organized by the European Leadership Network (ELNET), where she spoke about the future of the Abraham Accords, expressing her belief that the accords will expand. 

"We understand that in the next years the Abraham Accords will be expanded," Haskel told JNS while visiting Abu Dhabi. 

"The fact that the Abraham Accords held on is a type of insurance policy towards the furthering of this relationship and the building of trust between the two sides," she said.

"The Emirates have demonstrated a steadfast commitment to peace with Israel and opened the door for other nations to choose peace as well." 

After coming back from the trip, Haskel spoke with The Jerusalem Post about the Abraham Accords, where she expressed hope for the future of the accords, saying the people in the UAE "are really looking for a future without extremism." 

"They're really looking to build a mutual future together in a different way than what we have seen in the last 20 years," Haskel told the Post. 

Haskel acknowledged the difficulties raised by the conflict in Gaza, saying, "We always knew that the Abraham Accords would be tested during this time."

However, she also pointed out the UAE's consistent role in bringing humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying the Emirates were "some of the biggest contributors to the Palestinians in Gaza." 

"They were able to bring humanitarian aid to places where many other countries couldn't," Haskel told the Post. "They were the biggest door to the Palestinian community." 

Haskel did not address the Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, which caused outrage among the Arab and Muslim world, and led to an emergency Arab League summit in Qatar, in which the countries are expected to release a harsh statement against Israel for the strike. 

Qatar has been putting pressure on the Arab League members to take "economic and media measures" against Israel, in retaliation for the strike. 

The UAE itself released a statement condemning the "blatant and cowardly Israeli attack that targeted the State of Qatar, as well as the hostile statements made by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu." 

The statement called the strike "an irresponsible escalation that threatens regional and international peace and security." 

However, despite the harsh words, the statement did not explicitly indicate that the UAE would consider the strike as a reason for reevaluating the Abraham Accords, as it did previously regarding reports that the Knesset was considering applying sovereignty to around 82% of the territories of Judea and Samaria. 

At that time, Lana Nusseibeh, Assistant Minister for Political Affairs at the Emirati foreign ministry, warned, "Annexation in the West Bank would constitute a red line for the UAE," saying such a move "would severely undermine the vision and spirit of the Accords, end the pursuit of regional integration, and would alter the widely-shared consensus on what the trajectory of this conflict should be – two states living side by side in peace, prosperity, and security." 

Despite the harsh words by Arab countries, Prime Minister Netanyahu has not backed down from his decision to strike Hamas leaders in Qatar, warning the Gulf state to take care of Hamas, or Israel would do so. 

"Expel them or bring them to justice. Otherwise, we will do it ourselves," Netanyahu said. 

This allisreal.com report was republished with permission from All Israel News.