The 43-year-old, named by the Israeli media as Fidaa Kiwan, was arrested in March 2021, days after his arrival in the country. More than half a kilo of drugs was found after a search of her apartment by police. She is said to have claimed that the drugs were not hers and that her legal team is going to appeal against her sentence. The Israeli Foreign Ministry says it is “handling it”, but has not issued an even bigger statement. Sky News contacted the UAE government for comment. Relations between Israel and the UAE have been warm in recent years, following the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020 and the normalization of relations. Many Israelis have taken advantage of direct flights to visit the UAE for holidays, and the UAE is set to invest billions of dollars in Israel. Last December, Naftali Bennett became the first Israeli Prime Minister to pay an official visit to Abu Dhabi, and the Israeli president also visited the Gulf state recently. The UAE takes an extremely strict approach to drug use and it is not uncommon for the death penalty to be applied in criminal cases – however this often turns into a long sentence on appeal. Sky News contacted the United Arab Emirates to comment on the case.
