Israeli Cycle Team Races Through U.A.E. Streets as Ties Warm
Israeli Cycle Team Races Through U.A.E. Streets as Ties Warm
(Bloomberg) -- A privately funded Israeli cycling team is racing past major landmarks in the United Arab Emirates this week as relations between the countries warm.
The team, Israel Start-Up Nation, is competing in the U.A.E. Tour, an international road cycling competition in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The professional team is based in Israel and owned by Israelis, although it is largely made up of foreigners.
Israel and the Gulf states do not have diplomatic relations but there have been closer informal contacts in recent years, which officials say stem from shared concerns over Iran. There are also discreet, longstanding business ties between Israel and some Gulf countries. Cycling’s governing body also requires race organizers to invite all world teams.
Competing under the national flag and clad in the blue and white national colors, Israel Start-Up Nation aims to use sport as a path to a broader normalization of ties, team co-founder Sylvan Adams said. The second team and support staff also include Israelis and none of them had issues getting visas or permission to take part, added Adams, who helped to bring the Grand Tour Giro d’Italia cycling race to Israel in 2018.
“We are not seeking special treatment, but normalized treatment and to show how through sport we can build bridges,” the Canadian-Israeli businessman said. The Abu Dhabi Sports Council and the government media office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on the team’s participation.
The Tour is an international event and the U.A.E. is committed to host all participants from around the world, a U.A.E. official said, requesting anonymity.
It’s not the first time athletes from Israel have competed in the U.A.E. Israel’s team won gold in the Abu Dhabi Judo Grand Slam in 2018 after competing under their national flag. Their anthem was played at an event attended by the Israeli sports minister, who fought back tears at the victory.
There has also been a shift at the political level. Israel’s foreign minister attended a United Nations conference in Abu Dhabi last year and posed for pictures at the capital’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, while a senior U.A.E. official called for Arab countries to be open to Israel in an unusually frank editorial.
The U.A.E., like some other Gulf Arab states, also held back on criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mideast peace plan and praised the effort, which was rejected by the Palestinians.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sylvia Westall in Dubai at swestall@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Mark Williams
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