UAE Deputy PM meets with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed welcomed Lapid, and the meeting focused on the evolving bilateral relations between the UAE and Israel.
The two sides also discussed key regional developments and the latest updates in the Middle East, including international efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
During the meeting, the UAE top diplomat reaffirmed the UAE's support for international initiatives aimed at achieving an immediate ceasefire in Gaza Strip, ensuring the release of all hostages, and preventing further escalation of the conflict in the region.
Sheikh Abdullah also underscored the importance of bolstering efforts to address the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need to establish mechanisms that ensure the safe, sustainable, and unhindered delivery of aid to civilians.
Sheikh Abdullah further emphasised the need to work toward a credible political horizon to resume negotiations for a comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution. Such efforts, he noted, are essential to reinforcing regional security and stability and to ending the cycle of extremism, tension, and escalating violence.
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Khaleej Times
3 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Thousands of UAE residents who bought second passport face uncertainty
Thousands of UAE residents who acquired Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passports from countries like Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Cambodia, and Egypt are staring at a storm they didn't see coming. Some had invested their life savings, believing these passports would unlock global mobility, tax benefits, and long-term security. On June 14, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a memorandum giving 36 countries — including several with CBI programmes — a 60-day deadline, ending August 13, 2025, to meet stringent vetting and information-sharing standards or face visa bans. The European Union is also advancing legislation to suspend visa-free Schengen access for nations with weak oversight. If passed, the law could come into force by September. For expatriates from India, South Asia, and the Middle East, the implications are severe. Second citizenships had become a popular route to global travel and financial flexibility. Families typically spent between $115,000 and $330,000 on passports from Caribbean and other CBI jurisdictions that promised access to more than 140 countries. 'It's a perfect storm, and many passport holders didn't see it coming,' says Sam Bayat, founder of Dubai-based Bayat Legal Services and a pioneer in international investment migration in the region. 'People invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into citizenship programmes, believing it was their ticket to global freedom. Now, they're facing sudden restrictions that could render those passports practically useless.' The fallout is being felt most acutely in the UAE, where expats make up nearly 90 per cent of the population. While exact nationality data is unavailable, Bayat estimates that more than 10,000 applications have been filed from the region in recent years. 'Assuming three individuals per application, we're easily looking at 30,000 people, many of them UAE-based, who could be affected.' In limbo According to data shared by the European Commission, five Eastern Caribbean CBI jurisdictions — Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts & Nevis, and Saint Lucia — have collectively issued over 100,000 citizenships between 2014 and mid-2024. The crisis is particularly acute for Indian nationals in the UAE. India does not allow dual citizenship, so many who opted for a second nationality had to relinquish their Indian passports. Henley & Partners' 2024 Private Wealth Migration Report notes that 4,300 wealthy Indians gave up their citizenship in 2023, with many choosing Caribbean or other CBI programmes while living in the Gulf. "We took this step thinking we were securing our future. Now it feels like everything's up in the air," said a Dubai-based Indian expat who acquired a Saint Lucia passport in 2022. "I'm following the developments and hoping it doesn't come to a point where we're left without real options,' he added. 'For families who sold property or dipped into savings to secure their second passports, this is more than a policy change — it's a personal crisis,' said Bayat. 'They may feel betrayed, especially those who renounced their nationalities." Local agencies in the Gulf, many of which aggressively marketed these programmes as low-risk, high-reward investments, are under pressure too. 'This could be the end of the road for dozens of firms that built their businesses on Caribbean passports,' says Bayat. 'Cosmetic change not enough' A 2023 European Commission report flagged 88,000 'golden passports' issued by Caribbean states, raising concerns about lax due diligence and high-risk applicants. The US memorandum also targets Cambodia and Egypt — a sign that the issue is no longer confined to the Caribbean. Many countries are pledging reforms, but Bayat argues that cosmetic changes won't suffice. 'A phased, credibility-first model is the only path forward. Without structural reform, CBI risks being viewed as a security threat rather than a legitimate development tool.' He warns: 'Commonwealth ties or past diplomatic goodwill won't protect countries from enforceent if their citizenship programmes fail to meet modern standards of integrity.' 'The EU's suspension of Vanuatu and the CJEU ruling against Malta have created a clear legal and policy precedent — CBI must involve genuine residency, integration, and public accountability, or face consequences.' 'Visa-free access to the UK or Schengen is not a birthright, it's a privilege based on trust. And that trust is eroding fast for countries that continue to operate opaque or outdated CBI models.' For countries like Saint Kitts and Nevis or Dominica, which rely heavily on revenue from citizenship sales to fund infrastructure, schools, and hospitals, the stakes are high. 'A US travel ban would devastate their local economies, and most of their populations won't understand the reason,' said Bayat. Secure alternatives Amid growing uncertainty, many affected individuals are exploring secure alternatives, particularly the UAE's 10-year Golden Visa. 'We are navigating a significant transformation in the citizenship by investment landscape,' says Rayyad Kamal Ayub, managing director of Rayad Group Immigration Services. 'The shift away from off-the-shelf passport purchases indicates a move toward more sustainable and legitimate pathways.' His firm has set up a help desk to assist affected individuals as the rules evolve. 'The growing appeal of programmes like the UAE Golden Visa lies in their credibility,' Rayyad says. 'Points-based systems in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are also gaining traction, as countries prioritise applicants' qualifications and long-term value over cash.' Bayat is clear: The idea of investment migration isn't under attack, only the way it has been misused. 'Citizenship is a sovereign right, but it carries responsibilities for both the issuing state and the individual,' he says. 'The US and EU message is loud and clear: adapt or be shut out.'
Middle East Eye
9 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel has a Hamas 'hit-list.' Could it assassinate officials in Qatar?
Israel is stepping up its threats to target Hamas leaders abroad just as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House next week. The threats - and Netanyahu's visit - are sparking speculation that Israel could look to target senior Hamas officials in Gaza, Algeria, Lebanon, and potentially Qatar as the US presses for a new truce in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened last month to assassinate senior Hamas political bureau member Khalil al-Hayya, who is based in Doha, Qatar. He also said Israel would target the Gaza-based Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the commander of Hamas's military wing. The Israeli news site Maariv reported in June that Israel had a Hamas "hit list", which included Hayya, Osama Hamdan, a former Hamas spokesman in Lebanon, and Sami Abu Zahri, the group's representative in Algeria. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Hamas's military and political wings are structured as distinct entities. The group's political leadership has primarily been based in Doha as per a 2011 request from former US President Barack Obama. Hamas also had an office in Cairo, Egypt, although it is unclear whether that office is still functioning following the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel. Its political officials are also known to spend time in Turkey, but it is also unclear whether they have an official office there. On Thursday, the Times newspaper reported that Qatari officials had instructed Hamas officials, including Hayya, to hand over their personal weapons. Other senior officials ordered to turn over their weapons were Muhammad Ismail Darwish, the head of Hamas's Shura Council, and Hamas political bureau member Zaher Jabareen. Middle East Eye could not independently verify the reports. Qatar: A key US ally If Israel were to follow through with Katz's plan to kill Hayya in Qatar, it could present a major escalation in Israel's campaign against Hamas members. Until recently, Israel mainly targeted Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, Iran, and Lebanon. Following the start of the war on Gaza, one of Israel's first strikes abroad was the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, a senior leader of Hamas and a founding commander of the al-Qassam Brigades' military wing in Beirut. However, attacking Hamas members in Qatar, a key US ally in the region, which is also home to al-Udeid, the regional headquarters for US Central Command, could also present major challenges. Al-Udeid was targeted by Iran late last month in response to the US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites in support of Israel's sneak attack on the Islamic Republic. US and Iranian officials indirectly coordinated before the strike, with Qatar acting as an intermediary, MEE revealed. The US moved aircraft and heavy equipment from Qatar's al-Udeid base to stations in Saudi Arabia. Over the course of the war, Qatar, along with Egypt, have emerged as key mediators for the US. Despite this, the Trump administration broke with decades of precedent earlier this year and negotiated directly with Hamas, proscribed as a terror group by Washington, to release a dual US-Israeli national. Hamas was based in Damascus, Syria, until 2012, when it fell out with the Syrian government over the country's civil war. Qatar agreed to host the exiled leadership at the request of the US to maintain an indirect line of communication with the group, Qatari officials say. The long arm of Israeli assassinations Netanyahu has a history of ordering strikes when he is in the United States, appearing to relish the powerful symbolism of Israel's long military arm. Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in September 2024, just after Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly. Netanyahu's office was quick to release a picture of him huddled with aides ordering the strike from a drab office in New York City. Former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran a week after Netanyahu addressed a joint session of the US Congress in July 2024. And since the war erupted, Israel has killed dozens of senior Hamas officials inside the Gaza Strip. Hamas's military commanders are high-value targets. Israel said it killed Muhammad Sinwar, Haddad's predecessor, in May. Yahya Sinwar, Muhammad's brother, was one of the most high-value Israeli targets following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. Israel assassinated dozens of Yayha Sinwar's subordinates and searched for more than one year to locate Yahya. The US provided intelligence in a bid to track Yahya. In the end, he was killed in in October 2024 in a firefight in the southern Gaza City of Rafah when Israeli soldiers accidentally stumbled upon him and colleagues. 'Major hurdles' still remain If Israel does move to assassinate Hamas officials, it will come amid a new push for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Trump said this week that Israel had agreed to a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas is weighing whether to accept the proposal. However, Israel's Channel 14 reported on Wednesday that the proposal includes a "secret side letter" from the US giving Israel permission to restart the war. It's unclear whether Israel would need written approval, as a ceasefire was reached in January 2025 but imploded in March when Israel unilaterally resumed attacking Gaza. Meanwhile, speaking to The Times of Israel, two Arab diplomats said that "major hurdles" remain unresolved regarding the ceasefire, particularly around the recently established US-Israeli aid distribution system operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Hamas has demanded a return to the previous United Nations-run aid delivery mechanism. The controversial GHF, which began operations in late May after a three-month complete blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces, has been sharply criticised. More than 580 Palestinians have been killed and over 4,200 wounded by Israeli troops while attempting to access food and aid supplies. Hamas's concerns have been echoed by international organisations. On Tuesday, over 170 NGOs jointly called for an end to what they described as the 'deadly' US- and Israeli-backed GHF system, urging a return to United Nations-led aid coordination. Over 56,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war.
The National
11 hours ago
- The National
Introducing my son to Lebanon helped me heal my relationship with home
As the wheels touch down on the tarmac at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport, my wife and I turn to our 20-month-old son, Dia, kiss his soft head and whisper: 'Welcome home.' Then we both cry. It's his first time in Lebanon – a trip long delayed by an interminable war. Like many Lebanese born in the diaspora, my relationship to the country has always been complicated. Raised abroad, I absorbed it through Sunday meals at Lebanese restaurants in London, family stories and summer visits. As a teenager and young adult, I would go on to live there for 10 years, turning it into a site of belonging and often heartbreak. For the past five years, I've been estranged from it. I had seen a lot during my years in Lebanon, but nothing broke me like the August 4 Beirut port explosion. I felt I lost too much that day. I almost lost my father, who was in a building by the port. We couldn't locate him for hours. I lost far less important things – our company's brand-new office, my car, work projects. After that trip, I left broken. Something had snapped in my already tense relationship with a country that was often exhausting to live in, however much I loved it. Since then, I've only returned for work, family emergencies or deaths. My relationship with Lebanon calcified into something unpleasant. But something shifted on this trip. I came back as a different person. I came back as a father. Lebanon today feels hopeful but precarious – a country both limping out of war and still staggering from the collapse of 2019. The streets are tired. Shoots of wild grass protrude from the pavements and highways. I have become obsessed with these unkempt public roads. They remind me of the way Lebanon looked at the end of the civil war. The country has the air of an aristocratic home fallen into disrepair – once proud, now crumbling, its residents unable to afford its upkeep. But still full of life and stories. But none of that matters when I see my son here. To see how he belongs to this place. He's surrounded by doting grandparents. Even the neighbours beam when they see him. He devours zaatar and stuffed vine leaves. He's wide-eyed with curiosity. As Lebanese, our link to the motherland can often be tied to the kind of nostalgia these scenes can evoke. Nostalgia is a powerful, sometimes dangerous thing. It led many in our diaspora to invest life savings in Lebanon out of duty or hope, only to watch them vanish in the banking collapse. I used to be so weary of that dangerous form of nostalgia that led people to be irrational. But I find myself understanding it this time. For me, returning to Lebanon has always carried a hint of regression. Like anyone revisiting their parents' home, you slip back into old habits, old roles. You unlearn everything that's happened in the intervening years. But this time is different. There's no regression – only transformation. I'm here not as a son, but as a father. I'm not trying to make sense of my place, I'm building a bridge for my son between his heritage and his future. In a recent therapy session, while speaking about my connection to the Mediterranean, I had a surprising realisation: it wasn't the sea I was so anchored to. It was the mountain. I wanted to see if Dia had the same connection. On a visit to Jaj – a village 1,200 metres above the historic coastal town of Byblos – my wife's aunt left some cherries unpicked in the garden just for Dia. He picked them himself, dropping them into a plastic tub with glee. Nour noticed the cherries at the top had been pecked at. 'The top of the tree is for the birds,' her aunt said. 'The bottom is for us.' One simple sentence. Centuries of understanding how to live with the land, not just on it. And now, my son is learning that wisdom. And through him, so am I. Back in Beirut, we realise the city is not exactly toddler-friendly. Pavements are often a suggestion. When they do exist, they're broken, cluttered, blocked by scooters and cars. Electrical cables dangle from poles. It's whatever the opposite of baby-proof is. One afternoon, Nour suggests we might find more space to roam by taking Dia to my alma mater – the American University of Beirut. I haven't set foot there in years. I don't often reminisce about my time there, or much else. But walking through the main gate feels like a reckoning. I tell the security guard I remember my student number – a strange fact to recall from 2001. He pulls up my record, and there it is: my old ID photo. I barely recognise the boy in the image – fresh-faced and naive. Closer in age to Dia than to me now. I'm carrying my son and pointing at the ID photo on the screen, wondering if he'll recognise me. He smiles. Maybe he does. Maybe he's just happy to be here too. As he runs around the grounds of the 19th-century campus, I remember something Nour told me recently – about mycelium networks that connect trees underground, allowing forests to share resources and nutrients. That's how I feel, watching my son plant his feet on this soil. He's connected to people he's never met, to land he's never seen. And in watching him, I realise I'm part of that network too, in a way I haven't felt in years.
