By COLlive reporter
All roads lead to Chabad.
Omar Saif Ghobash, Assistant Minister for Cultural Affairs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was interviewed last week by Israel’s Yedioth Aharonot newspaper.
The occasion was the recent groundbreaking peace deal the UAE has struck with Israel, for the first time in its history, thanks to efforts by President Donald Trump and his administration.
Ghobash, a former ambassador to France and to Russia, praised the Abraham Accords, as the deal is called. “We will have full ties with Israel and plan to maximize them,” he stated.
Ghobash and his staff focus on supporting UAE diplomatic missions around the world in their cultural and public diplomacy outreach and promote international cooperation.
The Assistant Minister has hired a tutor from Israel named Ateret, who is teaching him Hebrew.
“She was a bit surprised who her student was, but jumped at the opportunity to teach me,” he said. “We are learning virtually and my future visit to Israel will help me polish up my skills of the language even more.”
As for his knowledge about Jews in general, Ghobash said: “I know the Jewish community here very well and have good friends in Chabad, even dating back to the time I was the UAE Ambassador in Moscow.”
The newspaper didn’t ask him for the names of those friends, but there have been a few who may have crossed paths with him.
One of them may be Rabbi Levi Duchman, a Chabad Rabbi who has been leading the Jewish community in Dubai in recent years and established a synagogue and even has kosher food produced locally.
Another is Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, a dominant public figure in Moscow. It was reported this week that his appeal led Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed to grant citizenship to a Jewish family living in danger in Yemen.
A third Chabad friend might be Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, Rabbi of the Berlin Jewish community, who visited Abu Dhabi a few months ago to officiate a Bris for a Jewish boy.
COLlive.com reported at the time that Rabbi Teichtal met with Ghobash, who is considered a thought leader on moderate Islam and the future of the Arab world.
Regardless of who his friends may be, many are excited about the new open friendship between Israel and the emirates and are looking forward to developing it even further.
