The signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020 evoked an electrifying sense of achievement in Israel, a country that for many years was excluded from most of the Middle East. Officials in Israel were convinced that the new ties forged between the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain would go beyond the governmental domain and encourage mass mutual tourism on both sides.
But while Israelis are flocking to Dubai and the other emirates, in the two and a half years that have passed since the groundbreaking agreements, the long-awaited influx of Arab tourists from the Gulf to Israel has turned out to be little more than a trickle. Over half a million Israelis flocked to the oil-rich Abu Dhabi and to the glittering and skyscraper-studded Dubai, only about 1,600 Emirati citizens have visited Israel since the restrictions on entry to it were lifted due to the corona virus last year. The Ministry of Tourism does not know how many Bahraini citizens have visited Israel because “the numbers are too small.”
“It’s still a strange and very sensitive situation,” said Morsi Hijah, head of the forum for Arabic-speaking tour guides in Israel. “Emirati citizens feel they are doing something wrong when they come here.” According to experts, the lack of Emirati and Bahraini tourists reflects Israel’s long-standing image problem in the Arab world and reveals the limits of the Abraham Accords.
While mutual trade between Israel and the Emirates jumped disproportionately – from $11.2 million in 2019 to $1.2 billion last year – the popularity of the agreements in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain has plummeted since they were signed, according to a survey by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. In the United Arab Emirates, support has dropped from 47 to 25 percent in the last two years. In Bahrain, only 20 percent of the population supports the agreement, down from 45 percent in 2020. During this period, Operation Wall Guardian took place, and terrorist incidents in Judea and Samaria jumped to the highest levels in years.
Israeli officials say that Gulf Arab tourism in Israel is the “missing link” that will elevate the agreements beyond security and diplomatic ties alone. Tourism from Egypt and Jordan, the first two countries to sign peace agreements with Israel, is also almost non-existent.
“We need to encourage Emirati citizens to visit here, this is an important task,” says Amir Hayek, Israel’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. “We need to promote tourism so that people get to know and understand each other.”
Officials from the Ministry of Tourism arrived in the United Arab Emirates last month in order to spread the news that Israel is a safe and attractive destination. The Ministry of Tourism presents Tel Aviv as a major attraction for Emirati citizens.
Travel agents say that so far, the bets on Jerusalem as a tourist attraction for Gulf citizens have not proven themselves. The security events in the city and the tensions between Jews and Arabs alienate the Emiratis and the Bahrainis, some of whom are facing a backlash from Palestinians who see normalization as a betrayal of their cause. “There are still doubts in the Arab world,” said Dan Pepperman, director of “Sharka”, an organization that promotes mutual tourism between Israel and the Arab world. “They are sure that Israel is a conflict zone, and expect to be discriminated against.” After leading two trips of tourists from the Emirates and Bahrain to Israel, “Sharka” had difficulty finding additional Arab citizens in the Gulf interested in visiting.
When a group of influencers from the Emirates and Bahrain visited Israel in 2020 and arrived at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, they were spat at and even had shoes thrown at them, said Hijah, who guided the group. Another group of Emirati officials who visited the holy site accompanied by the Israeli police provoked the wrath of the mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Muhammad Ahmed Hussein, who issued a religious decree against the Emirati who visited the mosque under Israeli supervision. Most of the Emiratis and Bahrainis who visited Israel said that they decided to give up the identifying clothing and the caps they normally wear, so as not to attract attention.
The Waqf refused to answer questions regarding the number of Emirati and Bahraini visitors and their treatment at the complex.
The Palestinian rage against the Emirates is not limited to the holy site. Emirati citizens who visit and study in Israel say they face death threats and frequent attacks online. “Not everyone can handle the pressure,” said Sumaya Almehiri, a 31-year-old Emirati from Dubai who studies nursing at the University of Haifa. “I didn’t give in to threats, but fear prevents many statements from coming.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, who returned to his sixth term as Prime Minister of Israel, pledged to strengthen the agreements with Bahrain, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan – all of which were included in the Abraham Accords. It should be noted that the formal ties with Sudan remain unclear, following a military coup and the absence of a parliament to ratify the normalization agreement with Israel.
As the chief architect of the agreements, Netanyahu also hopes to expand the circle of countries with which Israel reached an agreement and reach a similar agreement with Saudi Arabia. However, experts fear that his new government – more right-wing than the previous ones – could further discourage Arab tourists from the Gulf and possibly even jeopardize the agreements.
So far, the Gulf states have shown no signs of this. The Emirates ambassador to Israel was photographed warmly hugging Itamar Ben Gabir at a party at the embassy last month. And over the weekend, the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, called Netanyahu to congratulate him and invite him for an official visit.
It is a different story among those who do not serve in an official capacity. “I hope that Netanyahu and his colleagues will not set foot on the soil of the Emirates,” wrote on Twitter Abdulhalakh Abdullah, a prominent political scientist in the United Arab Emirates. “I think it is appropriate to temporarily freeze the Avraham agreement.”