UAE unblocks direct phone lines with Israel following U.S.-brokered normalization deal
16 August 2020
The United Arab Emirates on Sunday unblocked Israeli websites and direct international phone lines with Israel in a first step following the U.S.-brokered normalization deal announced last week, Israeli officials said.
Why it matters: The U.S. and Israel have tried for years to get the UAE and other Gulf states to establish direct phone service. The Obama administration asked the UAE to do so in support of special envoy George Mitchell’s peace initiative and again during Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace initiative, but the UAE refused.
Between the lines: This move was in the works for several weeks and was pushed by Israel foreign minister Gabi Ashkenazi, Israeli officials told me. Officials see it as a positive sign that the UAE wants to move quickly in turning the normalization announcement into practical steps.
- Ashkenazi spoke Sunday with his Emirati counterpart Abdullah Bin Zayed to inaugurate the opening of direct phone services.
- The UAE foreign ministry said both ministers stressed their commitment to implementing the normalization deal. The Israeli foreign ministry said Ashkenazi and Bin Zayed agreed to establish a channel of communication and meet as soon as possible.
The fact that the phone call was made public is also important.
- Previous Israeli foreign ministers had a relationship with their Emirati counterparts, but their phone calls were kept secret and were even placed under a gag order by Israeli military censors.
- This is the first time both Israel and the UAE have issued press statements about the phone call.
Go deeper: How the Israel-UAE deal came together
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.