Last week, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked went on a diplomatic trip to the United Arab Emirates as the guest of Emirati Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
What stood out about Shaked's visit was not how extravagantly she was welcomed, or how she flew in Al Nahyan's private helicopter, and not even the one-on-one meeting between the two that lasted three whole hours. What stood out the most was Shaked's interview with Emirati news outlet The National.
In it, she said the Israeli government will not discuss the establishment of a Palestinian state under current Prime Minister Naftali Bennett or Foreign Minister Yair Lapid when he takes over as part of a rotation arrangement. She even corrected the interviewer who called settlements in Judea and Samaria "illegal," asking to refer to them as "disputed territories," as per international law.
Shaked chose to say these statements precisely during her visit to Abu Dhabi. Since the swearing-in of the new government last June, coalition officials have been busy with the Palestinian issue, and have even visited Ramallah to that end. Moreover, a lot of debates have taken place over Lapid's political plans – in particular, the "economy in exchange for security" plan in the Gaza Strip – which in the foreign minister's view, will create "more favorable conditions for future political negotiations."
Such political moves have put right-winger Shaked in a particularly tight corner. Especially, since she has tried to position herself as the rightist in a government whose main job, it seems, is to not get into subjects on which its members disagree.
That is why she wisely decided to use the opportunity of being interviewed by an Arab media outlet to convey a very clear message to right-wing voters in Israel, and to yet again exhibit the character trait that has so often been attributed to her before: courage.
As far as Shaked is concerned, if her right-wing voters remember that she was the first senior Israeli minister to have the courage to speak her political truth about the Palestinians – and to an Arabic-language media no less – her trip was a success.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
