The Sept. 30 terrorist attack aboard flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv will not damage the Abraham Accords, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told JNS on Sunday.
Speaking on “Tov LaYehudim,” JNS’s Hebrew-language podcast, Sa’ar said he had twice spoken by phone with the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates since the incident.
The determination to strengthen bilateral ties “exists not only on our side,” Jerusalem’s top diplomat said. “It also exists on theirs.”
Sa’ar called the effort to crash the plane carrying 174 passengers “first and foremost” an attempt to murder Israelis. However, because the flight took off from Dubai, it was also an act “directed against the United Arab Emirates,” he stressed.
Sa’ar said he expects the UAE to again serve as a travel hub for Israelis once the details of the incident become clearer and new security arrangements are put in place.
“There were gaps here that need to be learned from,” he added.
Turning to Europe, the top Israeli diplomat told JNS that he closed the Jewish state’s embassy in Dublin because he saw Ireland as a “lost battle,” with no prospect of change even under a different government.
Sa’ar ordered the embassy shuttered in December 2024, citing the “extreme anti-Israel policy of the Irish government.”
“There are countries where, in my opinion, it’s a lost battle. That’s why I decided to close the embassy in Dublin,” he said. “I didn’t see any direction of change if there were a change of government.”
He said Spain was a different case, noting that elections there “are expected very soon.
“I am convinced that a government of the right-wing parties in Spain—even if it will certainly not be like the Czech Republic or Slovenia—will be a government that one can talk to; it will certainly not be anti-Israel by definition,” Sa’ar told JNS.
He said 2027 would be “a fascinating political year” in Europe, with elections in Poland, Italy, Spain and France.
“It will be very interesting to see where this goes,” he said.
Regarding Britain, Sa’ar revealed to JNS that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage had told him that a government led by his party would “undo” the Labour government’s actions.
Last month, Britain announced a ban on Israeli products from Judea and Samaria. It also joined 11 other countries in announcing they would sanction, or consider sanctioning, goods from Jewish communities in the area.
Sa’ar said the diplomatic onslaught against the Jewish state is fed mainly by left-wing governments whose base strongly backs the Palestinian cause, and cited Britain as an example.
“In England, I spoke with both the leader of the Conservatives, Kemi [Badenoch], and the leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage,” Sa’ar said.
“Nigel Farage said, ‘If we are in power, we will undo what the Labour government did.’ These are statements that have also been made in other places in the world, also in Australia,” the Israeli foreign minister said. “And therefore, yes, who is in power and what his political base demands has an influence.
“In international public opinion in general, we also have a problem in most countries. And this is something that is deep and that we must deal with,” Sa’ar said.
The full interview with Sa’ar is set to be published on Monday.
