Netanyahu takes off for Washington - Inside Israel

PM and his family making their way to Washington, DC, for signing ceremony of the peace agreements between Israel and the UAE.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara and his two sons Yair and Avner took off on Sunday night from Ben Gurion Airport to Washington, DC, ahead of the signing ceremony of the peace agreement with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

In addition to Netanyahu, the Israeli delegation includes the head of the National Security Council, Meir Ben Shabbat, the head of the Mossad, Yossi Cohen, the military secretary of the Prime Minister, Brigadier General Avi Bluth, and other senior officials.

The United Arab Emirates will be represented at the ceremony by its Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who has already landed in Washington ahead of the signing ceremony of the agreement at the White House on Tuesday. The minister is accompanied by ministers from the United Arab Emirates government and some senior officials from Abu Dhabi.

Mossad chief Yossi Cohen spoke to reporters before taking off for Washington earlier on Sunday and said there were contacts for peace agreements with countries besides Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

"Huge, very big excitement," Cohen said of his feelings. “I was looking forward to this moment which happened thanks to many people. This is a very exciting trip. A lot of very good people have worked on this matter for many, many years. Hopefully we will see good efforts and peace and we will continue them."

The head of the Mossad was asked if there would be more countries that would sign a peace agreement with Israel and said, "I very much hope that there will be more, we are working on more countries, it depends on both them and us."

Earlier on Sunday night, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke of his trip to Washington, D.C., where the signing ceremony of the peace agreements with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates will take place.

"Dear citizens of Israel, tonight I will go on a historic mission - to meet with the President of the United States and the representatives of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. I am going to bring peace for peace, peace out of power. Two peace agreements in one month," Netanyahu said.

"This is a new era of peace that we have been dreaming of for 25 years and these agreements will be of political and comprehensive peace, they will flow billions of billions of dollars. It is always good but especially good during the coronavirus period," the Prime Minister added.