The UAE’s Jewish population is growing significantly, the country’s senior rabbi said after a visit from Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the Emirates on Monday.
“The Jewish population has already doubled [since the signing of the Abraham Accords], it’s happening and will continue to happen,” Dr Elie Abadie, the Emirates' senior rabbi in residence told The National.
Mr Herzog’s visit shows the UAE “is a very friendly country, where the Jewish community can grow and thrive so there will be more coming here”, he said.
The next most important institution [to the Jewish community] is the building of an actual synagogue in Dubai, because nowadays some are using villas and hotels
Dr Elie Abadie
Mr Herzog and his wife, first lady Michal Herzog, were on the second day of a two-day visit to the Emirates — the first by an Israeli head of state. Mr Herzog was welcomed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai and Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.
The UAE hosts between 350 and 500 Jews who are active within the community, Rabbi Abadie believes, but the number might be more as there are people who do not take part in community activities.
About 250,000 Israelis have already visited the Emirates since the Abraham Accords were signed in the summer of 2020.
Rabbi Abadie hopes the visit of Mr Herzog will encourage the building of a synagogue in Dubai.
“I think the next most important institution [to the Jewish community] is the building of an actual synagogue in Dubai, because nowadays some are using villas and hotels,” Rabbi Abadie said.
“The move will be significant and meaningful,” he said.
Currently, worshippers can gather at the Jewish Community Centre in Al Wasl, or at the Address Dubai Marina Hotel to attend services.
After the visit of Pope Francis to Abu Dhabi in 2018, the Emirates announced the building of the Abrahamic Family House on the capital’s Saadiyat Island. This will include a mosque, church and synagogue.
The project is expected to finish by the end of 2022.
Mr Herzog’s presence in the Emirates will encourage members of the faith to visit and live in the country, said Rabbi Abadie.
“It gives the community a sense of recognition, representation in a sense, a sense that we have graduated to be an official community here,” he said.
“The [Jewish community is] excited, thrilled, very proud, it has been an experience to hear and see the Israeli national anthem, even the president himself said he shed some tears when he heard it as he couldn’t believe it,” said Rabbi Abadie.
During his visit to the UAE, Mr Herzog met Rabbi Abadie several times.
“He is looking forward to strengthening the Abraham Accords,” Rabbi Abadie said.
“Mr Herzog believes other countries will be joining the Accords. He hopes that every country would join, of course.”
The Abraham Accords was formally signed between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain in Washington on September 15, 2020, opening the door for diplomatic, trade, travel and business ties between them.
The UAE and Israel opened their respective embassies in the past year, formalising their commitment to peace in the region.
Morocco and Sudan have also since normalised ties with Israel.
Abrahamic Family House: in pictures
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
Dubai World Cup Carnival card
6.30pm: UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Conditions (TB) US$100,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (Turf) 1,000m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (D) 1,900m
8.15pm: Meydan Challenge Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,400m
8.50pm: Dubai Stakes Group 3 (TB) $200,000 (D) 1,200m
9.25pm: Dubai Racing Club Classic Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 2,410m
The National selections
6.30pm: Final Song
7.05pm: Pocket Dynamo
7.40pm: Dubai Icon
8.15pm: Dubai Legacy
8.50pm: Drafted
9.25pm: Lucius Tiberius
BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Result
UAE (S. Tagliabue 90 1') 1-2 Uzbekistan (Shokhruz Norkhonov 48', 86')
UAE rugby in numbers
5 - Year sponsorship deal between Hesco and Jebel Ali Dragons
700 - Dubai Hurricanes had more than 700 playing members last season between their mini and youth, men's and women's teams
Dh600,000 - Dubai Exiles' budget for pitch and court hire next season, for their rugby, netball and cricket teams
Dh1.8m - Dubai Hurricanes' overall budget for next season
Dh2.8m - Dubai Exiles’ overall budget for next season
Scorline
Iraq 1-0 UAE
Iraq Hussein 28’
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs
Engine: 2.3-litre, turbo four-cylinder
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Power: 300hp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: Dh189,900
On sale: now
Mobile phone packages comparison
MATCH INFO
Borussia Dortmund 0
Bayern Munich 1 (Kimmich 43')
Man of the match: Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Real Madrid 1
Ronaldo (87')
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Williams (14')
TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
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Price, base / as tested Dh274,000 (estimate)
Engine 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder
Gearbox Nine-speed automatic
Power 245hp @ 4,200rpm
Torque 500Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.4L / 100km
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
