DUBAI (Reuters) -The United Arab Emirates summoned Israel’s ambassador to the country to express its condemnation of “provocative practices by Israeli extremists” during a rally in Jerusalem earlier this week, state news agency WAM reported on Wednesday.
On Monday, a large rally in Jerusalem marking Israel’s capture of the city’s east in the 1967 war descended into chaos as far-right Israeli Jews confronted and assaulted Palestinians, fellow Israelis and journalists, witnesses said.
The annual “Flag March” drew tens of thousands of people, who chanted, danced and waved Israeli flags after far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a flashpoint of Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
WAM said the UAE condemned “the deplorable and offensive violations against the Palestinian people that took place in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque”.
It said the Gulf state had urged the Israeli government “to assume full responsibility, condemn these hostile acts, hold perpetrators accountable without exception to ministers and officials”.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The UAE is one of the few Arab countries that have normalised relations with Israel, under the Abraham Accords.
(Reporting by Elwely Elwelly, Alexander Cornwell;Editing by Alison Williams and Helen Popper)
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