Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed receives the award from Dr Robert Satloff in Abu Dhabi.

Gulf Today Report

His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates, received the highest honour — the Scholar-Statesman Award from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy at a gala event in New York City for his leadership in establishing a full peace between the UAE and Israel and his commitment to religious tolerance.

The Institute’s Scholar-Statesman Award celebrates outstanding leaders, who, through their public service and professional achievements, exemplify the idea that sound scholarship and a discerning knowledge of history are essential to wise and effective policy and the advancement of peace and security in the Middle East.

The Institute Executive Director Dr Robert Satloff

presented the Award to Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi recently.

The award was due to take place on Thursday but because of an urgent affairs of state prevented the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi from traveling to the US.

Citing Mohamed Bin Zayed’s decision to make peace with Israel through the Abraham Accords and to welcome a flourishing of religious diversity within the Emirates, Satloff said, “Our Scholar-Statesman Award recognizes leaders and public figures whose achievements are based on the ideals we value the highest: scholarship and statesmanship — statesmanship being the ability to take your people, your country, your nation, your institution, places they have never gone.

During a rare interview with Satloff, the Crown Prince discussed his motivations for making peace with Israel.

“This is an important decision for many reasons,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

“First, for the Palestinians themselves. Second, to send a clear message to the world and the region that we are striving for peace.

“Third, it is a mission that we have inherited from our founder, the late Sheikh Zayed, God rest his soul.

“He was a man of peace and compassion, since the days of the UAE’s inception. That is his vision, and we are committed to this path.”

UAE Ambassador Youssef Al Otaiba, a key architect of the Abraham Accords, represented Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed at the New York gala and participated in a discussion of current Middle East affairs with Satloff.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog sent a congratulatory video to the event in which he lauded the Crown Prince saying, “The Abraham Accords and the steps taken by Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed to welcome members of all Abrahamic faiths to the UAE represent a historic turning point for our region, one which will lead to a brighter and more peaceful future, for all nations and peoples of the Middle East. It is a complete sea change, and I commend and congratulate all those who took part in bringing through the Abraham Accords.”