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Official: Israel must be careful in its relations with Gulf states

December 13, 2018 at 10:34 am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) on an official diplomatic visit to Oman where he met with Sultan Qaboos bin Said on 25 October 2018 [PM of Israel/Twitter]

Israel should be careful in its relationship with Gulf countries, the former Deputy Chief of the General Staff Yair Golan warned yesterday.

Speaking at a conference in the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies (JISS) entitled “New Realities in the Eastern Mediterranean”, Golan stressed that Israel had to be “very, very careful regarding the Gulf states.”

“Yes, we can find common interests [with the Gulf States], but we should remember all the time that we really rely on a completely different set of values,” he said, adding that the government “should not overemphasise this relationship.”

Golan’s remarks come at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for developing diplomatic relations with Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE and Bahrain.

On Saturday, Netanyahu said that the groundwork for normalising relations with neighbouring countries was being put in place. He explained that this was underway without Israel having to concede anything to the Arabs.

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