Israel relaunches "virtual Gulf embassy" on Twitter

Back in 2013, the Israel Foreign Ministry launched a Twitter account, @IsraelintheGCC, to speak directly with the Arabs of states in the Gulf Cooperation Council, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.

It fizzled out in 2014 with very few posts, all of which were in English.

Now it has been relaunched, in Arabic. Ofir Gendelman, the spokesperson to Arab media for Israel, announced on his Twitter "To our dear Gulf followers, follow this account, which is intended for you to broaden the dialogue between us and you."

One of the first posts shows a video of Israeli innovations narrated by an Arabic speaker.

إبتكارات إسرائيلية تجعل حياتنا أفضل

هل تعلم أن إسرائيليين اخترعوا جهازًا يحول الهواء إلى ماء وتكنولوجيا تمكن السيارات من القيادة بشكل ذاتي؟ فيما يلي معلومات عن ابتكارات إسرائيلية قد تجعل حياتنا أفضل. pic.twitter.com/gsLdCw2Ezu

— إسرائيل في الخليج (@IsraelintheGCC) February 5, 2019

Most of the responses are typical of the Arab responses to any Israeli initiative in Arabic - cursing Israel. But as you scroll down there are a significant number of Arabs who are fans of Israel, who support peace and who see positive possibilities in normalizing relations with Israel.

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