JERUSALEM —
With fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections looming, some Arab Gulf nations have turned for help to an ostensible enemy and a country they don’t officially recognize: Israel.
Call it COVID-19 diplomacy, according to Yoel Har-Even, head of the international division at Tel Aviv’s Sheba Medical Center, one of Israel’s top medical institutions. The hospital has received inquiries about services and treatments from private individuals and businessmen from countries where “you have to have official permission to reach out” to Israel.
Har-Even said those nations include Bahrain and Indonesia — which do not have diplomatic ties with Israel — and a few majority-Muslim countries that do recognize Israel, such as Jordan, Egypt and Azerbaijan. He also did not dispute numerous Israeli media reports that have put the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait on the list as well.
“COVID-19 has served us well,” he said in an interview. “I wouldn’t say that attitudes have changed in the past 70 days, but we’ve definitely received more and more approaches from different places.”
