Israel to apologize to UAE for official blaming virus surge on Dubai travel

The United Arab Emirates has expressed its frustration with Israel, after a senior health official blamed a sharp rise in coronavirus cases on Israelis returning from vacations in Dubai.

As reported by Hebrew outfits Walla and Ynet, officials in the Prime Minister's Office apologised for the comments made by Sharon Alroy-Preis after being contacted by Emirati officials.

Alroy-Preis, head of the Israeli Health Ministry’s public health department, reportedly was said to have told hospital chiefs earlier this week that “in two weeks of peace [with the UAE] more people died than in 70 years of war".

Historically, Israel and the United Arab Emirates were never at war, and as noted by the reports since the beginning of December 2020, 906 Israelis who returned from the Gulf nation were diagnosed with the coronavirus, leading to a total of 4050 cases.

Tens of thousands of Israelis have travelled to the United Arab Emirates since Israel normalised ties with the Gulf state in September.

On Monday, Israel shuttered Ben Gurion Airport to cancel nearly all flights until the end of January, amid fears of fast-spreading or vaccine-resistant coronavirus variants entering the country.

According to Alroy-Preis, “The six days that we have decided to close Ben Gurion Airport will not be enough. We will have to extend the closure by at least a few weeks to buy time for the vaccination campaign".

Netanyahu said Thursday that he aims to extend the airport closure for at least two more weeks.