Israeli President Isaac Herzog met on Friday in Dubai with Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, King Charles of the United Kingdom, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, per a spokesman for the Israeli president.
Herzog told the Emirati president that releasing the Israeli hostages, whom the Hamas terror organization is holding in Gaza, is “a humanitarian duty for the whole family of nations and leaders of the region in particular and provided a detailed overview of the current situation,” per the Israeli meeting readout.
Herzog “appealed to his friend Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to employ his full political weight to promote and speed up the return home of the hostages,” the readout noted.
At the meeting—which Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, President’s Office Director-General Eyal Shviki and Minstry of Foreign Affairs Director General Ronen Levi attended—the Emirati president “emphasized the obligation and the need to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
He also thanked Herzog for Israeli-Emirati cooperation enabling “the increase in humanitarian aid, the construction of a field hospital in Rafah, as well as the removal of injured children for treatment in the Emirates,” per the readout. It added that “Bring them home” was written on Herzog’s plane that landed in Dubai.
In a meeting with King Charles, Herzog “emphasized the humanitarian duty of releasing the hostages held by the terrorist organization Hamas” and “appealed to the king to use his full political weight to advance efforts to return the hostages home to their families,” per the readout.
To the Indian prime minister, Herzog expressed “strong condemnation of the massacre and acts of terrorism committed by Hamas” and “emphasized that all world leaders must join the humanitarian effort to return the hostages homes swiftly and safely, and appealed to the prime minister of India to do all he could to promote the issue.”
Herzog also “emphasized the right and duty of the State of Israel to defend itself against the security threat posed by the terrorist organization Hamas, as well as to act as necessary in order to return the hostages back to Israel” with the Brazilian president.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva “expressed his support for the State of Israel and shared that he had spoken with the leaders of South American nations, and called on them to join the humanitarian effort to return the hostages held by the terrorist organization Hamas,” per the release.
The Brazilian president was the only leader who, according to the Israeli readout, expressed support for Israel. Last month, he criticized what he called “the insanity of the prime minister of Israel [in] wanting to destroy the Gaza Strip but forgetting that there aren’t just Hamas soldiers there but also women and children who are the big victims of this war.”
Herzog was in the United Arab Emirates to attend the COP28 U.N. Climate Conference.
