Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hailed the recent agreements to normalize relations with the Gulf states of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday afternoon.
"On Friday, I had another conversation with President Trump and the leader of an Arab country, this time with King Hamad of Bahrain. It was a very warm conversation in which we agreed on the establishment of peaceful relations between Bahrain and Israel – the official establishment of peace with full diplomatic relations and with all that entails," Netanyahu told the Cabinet ministers.
"We now have two historic peace agreements, with two Arab countries, which were established in one month. I am certain that we all welcome the new era. We are at the threshold of a new era. I want to promise you that each and every one of you, through your ministries, will be part of it because this is going to be a different kind of peace. This will be a warm peace, economic peace in addition to the diplomatic peace, also peace between peoples. There will be brisk traffic in direct air links between the countries. The great excitement that exists in the country is also reflected in the very great excitement in Bahrain and the UAE among the public at large. There truly is a great change here.
"Tonight I will leave for Washington to sign the beginning of these agreements in order to set this historic change in motion."
Turning to the decision to implement a lockdown over the High Holidays due to the rise in coronavirus morbidity across Israel, Netanyahu said: "The previous day, before the conversation on Friday, Prof. Ronni Gamzu turned to us, and together with the experts and the heads of the health system, in effect waved the red flag regarding the ability of the health system to deal with the challenges that are coming toward us, and the need to take the necessary steps as a result. This is the goal of this meeting that comes in the wake of the [Corona] Cabinet, which raised draft decisions. The goal, of course, is to discuss them during this meeting.
"I very much regret Minister Litzman's decision to resign from the government. I regard Yaakov Litzman very highly and I respect his decision. We must move forward and make the decisions that are necessary for the State of Israel during the corona period. This is what we will do at this meeting."
