European states have on the whole decided against sending a representative to a signing ceremony in Washington to celebrate normalization between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
The only country that will be sending a delegation is the right-wing Hungarian government of Viktor Orban.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced yesterday that he will be the only EU diplomatic leader to attend the signing ceremony which has been dismissed as a public relations spectacle designed to boost US President Donald Trump’s chances in November’s election. The much-maligned US commander and chief is currently trailing his rival Joe Biden in opinion polls.
“At the invitation of U.S. President Donald Trump, as the only European Union minister, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto will also attend … the signing ceremony in the White House on Tuesday,” Mate Paczolay said.
Szijjarto’s announcement underlines the deep relations between Hungary, under Prime Orban, with his US and Israeli counterparts. Both Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are seen as sharing Orban’s hostility towards immigrants and disdain for democratic principles.
Szijjarto is one of the few European leaders to offer effusive praise for the Trump-led normalisation deal. “Since the White House prepared the agenda for stabilizing the region, this has been the second development to prove that this is the best peace plan thus far and promises to bring peace in the Middle East at last,” Szijjarto wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
“The U.S. President thus deserves gratitude,” he said, adding praise for Israeli, UAE and Bahraini leaders.
Szijjarto will also hold talks with Trump’s son-in-law and chief adviser, Jared Kushner.
American Jews have expressed “horror” over the deep ties between Netanyahu and Orban, who is accused of being an anti-Semite.
On August 13, Israel and the UAE have reached a deal that is expected to lead to “full normalization of relations” between the Arab nation and Israel in an agreement that US President Donald Trump reportedly helped broker.
The agreement is considered a severe blow to Palestinian efforts aimed at isolating Israel regionally and internationally until it ends its military occupation and apartheid-like system in occupied Palestine.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
