Netanyahu deletes UAE’s ‘advanced democracy’ clip

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as an “advanced democracy”, days after a deal between the two countries to normalize their relations.

Netanyahu was hosted by the UAE-run Sky News Arabia on Monday to tout the normalization agreement between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi.

“The deal connects the UAE with Israel; both of them are advanced democracies and their societies are advanced,” Netanyahu was quoted by Haaretz as saying when asked about how the deal will serve regional peace.

The Israeli premier uploaded a video of the interview on his official Twitter account, before deleting it shortly afterwards.

The UAE is a hereditary monarchy where political freedoms are very limited.

The Gulf state is rated as “not free” by Freedom House, a US research group that studies democracy and political freedom throughout the world.

The UAE was given a score of 17 out 100 in terms of freedoms and 5 out of 40 in terms of political rights, a score less than Iran, China and Russia.

Abu Dhabi does not usually holds elections as all legislative, executive and judicial authorities are in the hands of the UAE's Federal Supreme Council, a body consisting of the leaders of the seven emirates of the UAE.

Last week, US President Donald Trump announced a deal between Israel and the UAE to normalize their relations.

The UAE is the first Gulf state and third Arab nation to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel after Egypt and Jordan.