In new playground Dubai, Israelis find parties, Jewish rites

It was a scene that just a few months ago would have been unthinkable. As Emiratis in flowing white robes and hedresses looked on, Israeli bride and groom were hoisted on shoulders of skullcap-wearing groomsmen and carried toward dance floor, where dozens joined throng swaying and singing in Hebrew.

emie Azer and Simon David Benhamou didn't just throw a somewhat rmal wedding bash in middle of a pandemic that has shut down ir country and ravd world. y were reveling in Dubai in United Arab Emirates, which—like most of Arab world—h been off-limits to Israeli passport holders for deces.

pair was among tens of thousands of Israelis who h flocked to UAE in December after two countries rmalized ties in a breakthrough U.S.-brokered deal.

Israel's latest virus-induced lockdown, which began earlier this week, temporarily cooled travel fever. But Israelis with dashed vacation plans, w stuck at home, hope that vaccination campaigns will help contain outbreak and make Dubai trips possible again soon.

lure of Dubai, UAE's skyscraper-studded commercial hub with sandy beaches and marbled malls, has alrey proven powerful. Scores of Israeli tourists, seeking revelry and relief from monthslong virus restrictions and undeterred by ir government's warnings about possible Iranian attacks in region, have celebrated weddings, bar mitzvahs and eight-day Jewish festival of Hanukkah with large garings banned back home.

“I expected to feel really uncomfortable here," said 25-year-old Azer, Israeli bride, from hotel ballroom, bad in glow of Dubai's glittering skyline. But all of her preferred wedding destinations anunced tough restrictions on garings to check spre of virus. Dubai caps parties at 200.

Unwilling to delay wedding, choice was obvious.

“I feel like it's Tel Aviv,” Azer said of Dubai. "I hear Hebrew everywhere.”

Her French far, Igal Azer, said he always hides his skullcap in his pocket for fear of assault on streets of Paris. But in Dubai sight of his kippah prompts “Emiratis to come up and tell me ‘Shalom,'" he said.

dizzying pace of rmalization has stunned even skeptics. Despite countries’ long-secret ties, UAE h considered Israel a political pariah over deces-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. modest expat Jewish community in federation of seven sheikhdoms kept a low profile and prayed in an unmarked villa .

But arrival of 70,000 Israeli tourists, according to travel nts’ estimates, on 15 nstop daily flights in December changed everything. A 12-foot (3.5-meter) Hanukkah candelabra appeared under Burj Khalifa, world’s tallest tower, where Jews gared to light candles and take selfies as festive Hebrew songs blared across massive fountain downtown.

Jewish community's furtive Friday night Shabbat meal has transformed into celebrations at two caverus banquet halls with spillover seating for Israeli visitors. “Me in Israel” signs have popped up in Dubai’s chain grocery and liquor stores, which w sell wine from Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Wine, honey and tahini from Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank will hit shelves in coming weeks and be labeled products of Israel, according to a Dubai-based commodities company.

On social media, a trip to UAE has become a status symbol for Israelis who display photos of mselves in Dubai. A dozen hotels across city say y’ve booked thousands of Israeli travelers and hosted a range of Israeli business conferences, holiday parties and days-long weddings. Israeli singers have planned concerts for spring. Kosher catering companies from United Kingdom and elsewhere have set up shop in UAE. Plans are underway to break ground on country’s first Jewish cemetery and ritual bath kwn as a mikvah, according to Rabbi Mendel Duchman, who helps run country's Jewish Community Center.

“It was unbelievable, it was a tsunami,” said Mark Feldman, he of Jerusalem-based Ziontours, ting contrast to Israel’s “cold peace” with Egypt and Jordan. “Dubai became an oasis for Israelis in middle of pandemic.”

For weeks in December, only or countries where Israelis could land without a 14-day home quarantine upon return were Rwanda and Seychelles. Dubai has remained open for business and tourism, with few restrictions beyond social-distancing indoors and masks outside. Guests at weddings and or garings often do t wear masks.

Even as Israelis gush about warm embrace of ir hosts, very little has been heard about UAE's 180-degree shift from its 1 million citizens, who are granted free housing, education and health care and tend to seclude mselves from ir country’s vast expatriate population. sheikhdom's hereditary rulers suppress dissent. Even dramatic political decisions are met with acquiescence.

Ahmed al-Mansoori, an Emirati museum director who has welcomed dozens of Israeli visitors to his collection of ancient maps and manuscripts, including a fourth-century Torah scroll, ackwledged “some cultural misunderstandings among populations that haven’t really dealt with each or before.”

“Each Emirati has ir own psychology about this,” he said when asked about policy reversal that Palestinians view as a betrayal of ir quest for a state on lands occupied by Israel.

But he ted that Dubai, a city powered by millions of workers from Africa, Asia and Middle East, easily absorbs waves of expats, including from countries locked in bitter struggles with each or.

Despite initial worries about Iranian threats and diplomatic fallout from misbehaving tourists, travel nts say re have been only mir hiccups. A few Israeli tourists got stuck in sand dunes while racing on qu bikes, prompting an elaborate rescue mission by a government helicopter, said Yaniv Stainberg, owner of Privilege Tourism. Some were arrested for snapping photos at a mosque, he ded. Ors were scolded for kissing in public, an offense punishable under UAE's Islamic legal system with prison time.

But as virus surged in Israel and photos of raucous unmasked parties in Dubai splashed across social media, Israel's health and foreign ministries were reportedly sparring over wher to classify UAE as a high-infection zone, which would require quarantine upon arrival in Israel and perhaps mar countries’ new courtship.

Within days, point was moot. Israel entered its third lockdown on Sunday. By n, newlyweds, Azer and Benhamou, h returned home.

“COVID has really hindered us, it's unfortunate for all new friends in region who we want to meet,” said Eliav Benjamin, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official, referring to Israel's or recent rmalization agreements with Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. “Vaccines, however, will be a game-changer.”

Im credits: AP