DUBAI – Israeli minister Miri Regev on Monday shared a video on Facebook ofher touring a famed mosque in the United Arab Emirates, in an unprecedentedvisit by a cabinet member.

The culture and sport minister, known for controversial comments aboutArabs, was dressed in a red *abaya* with a white scarf covering her hair atAbu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

“I toured the site,” Regev told the camera, in Hebrew, surrounded by agroup of people in traditional Emirati dress.

“This is the first time that an Israeli minister is here on a visit.

Regev, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likudparty, visited the mosque on Sunday, according to her spokesman.

Her country does not have diplomatic relations with the UAE.

Israeli officials publicly toured landmark sites in the UAE at the weekend,the first such visit, days after Netanyahu travelled to the neighbouringGulf state of Oman.

The delegation, which includes the country’s communications minister, wasin Dubai for the International Telecommunication Union PlenipotentiaryConference this week.

“We arrived the day (Sunday) before the conference. We went around thetown, and we visited the mall,” a member of the delegation told *AFP*.

“We were impressed, and we didn’t expect the town to be like this, thisbeautiful,” she said on condition of anonymity.

The visit came a day after Israel’s national anthem was played at a judotournament in Abu Dhabi after one of its athletes won gold — believed to bethe first time the anthem has been played publicly in an Arab Gulf state.

Netanyahu visited Oman on Thursday for talks with the country’s ruler,Sultan Qaboos, on regional security issues, according to officialstatements by both countries. And at a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahusaid of his Oman visit: “There will be more”.

Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz is scheduled to visit Omannext week for a transportation conference, according to his office.

Netanyahu has long sought a rapprochement with other Arab states, citing inpart concerns over their common enemy Iran.

But Israel currently has full diplomatic relations with only two Arabstates, Egypt and Jordan, as Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territoryremains a major obstacle to official recognition by Arab countries. -APP/AFP