Hazza Al -Mansouri, the first Emirati visitor visitor, said that he carried the Israeli flag on his first space trip, at the end of 2019, that is, a year before the signing of the normalization agreement between the UAE and Israel, according to what was reported by the Israeli newspaper (Jerusalem Post).
Al -Mansouri presented the flag with him in space to the delegates of the Israeli wing at the Expo 2020 Dubai, and said, "I am pleased to be here and present this Israeli flag to the representatives of Israel here and the Israeli public in general."
He added, "I took the flag with me two years ago and I am a pioneer of my Emirati space on my first mission, and this is my gift to all Israelis."
Al -Mansouri said that he intends to visit Tel Aviv in early next month.
The "Israel Arabic" account celebrated on Twitter - followed by the Israeli Foreign Ministry - the move of Al -Mansouri and said, "We hosted a dear and distinguished guest, the first Emirati astronaut Hazaa Al -Mansouri, who gave us a symbolic gift.It is the flag of Israel, who had accompanied him on his first journey to the International Space Station.Many thanks with our best wishes for success. ”
Over Jendelman, a spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister, "Al -Mansouri's step" and considered that it is a symbol of mutual respect and friendship between the Israeli and Emirati people.
"It was a valuable and influential gift," Josh Bandit said at the Expo exhibition in Dubai.
Buy his seat in space
A report published by the New York Times, in 2019, had revealed that the UAE had bought a seat for one of its pilots on a space trip for a huge amount, which sparked criticism of this contradictory step with what the country's media circulated.
The writer Kenneth Zhang said in a report that the UAE paid a huge amount for Moscow in exchange for an opportunity for Al -Mansouri to go to space, like other wishing.
The report added that the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center in Dubai and without having its own spacecraft, bought a seat from the Russian Space Agency on board the vehicle (Siz), in the same way in which wealthy space tourists buy seats on flights heading to the space station.
The writer pointed out that for this reason, the US Space Agency (NASA) says that Al -Mansouri is a "participant in space flights" and not a professional astronaut.
He added that the amount paid was not revealed, and that Al -Mansouri and his assistant Sultan Al -Neyadi chose from among more than four thousand applicants who wanted to fill the Siz seat.