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WATCH: UAE hosts first Orthodox Jewish wedding in Dubai

WATCH: UAE hosts first Orthodox Jewish wedding in Dubai
The wedding reportedly took place at the Park Hyatt Dubai Hotel and featured some 150 guests, Ynet reported, adding that at least half the guests had come from Israel.
2 min read
02 December, 2020
The wedding reportedly took place at the Park Hyatt Dubai Hotel [Twitter]
The UAE on Monday allegedly hosted its first ever Orthodox Jewish wedding, media reported, at a  hotel, just two months after a normalisation deal between the two countries was signed.

The wedding reportedly took place at the Park Hyatt Dubai Hotel and featured some 150 guests, Ynet reported. At least half the guests had flown in from Israel and other countries, the article added.

A video of the event was shared on social media and shows the bride and groom celebrating under their chuppah - a canopy traditionally used at Jewish weddings.

Music is heard playing in the background and guests can be seen dancing and cheering after the breaking of a glass, another wedding tradition. It is not known if the married couple are Israeli.

Israel has placed a strict 20-person limit on public events, including weddings, due to the novel coronavirus, as authorities fail to control a rise in Covid-19 infections.

Israeli media have suggested that as a result, some in the country have looked to the UAE as a venue for weddings, with lockdown restrictions preventing gatherings in Israel.

Israel has classified the UAE as a "green" country, from which returning Israeli tourists are not required to quarantine.

The UAE and Israel announced normalisation of ties in August before signing a controversial agreement the following month.

The deal saw the first-ever Israeli commercial flight to the UAE touched down in Dubai last month.

Hard hit by the coronavirus, the UAE and Israel expect rapid dividends from their normalisation deal.

Dubai, which has the most diversified economy in the region, saw its GDP contract 3.5 percent in the first quarter following two years of modest growth. 

Its Emirates airline was forced to downsize and cut thousands of jobs.

Tourism has long been the economic mainstay of Dubai, which welcomed more than 16 million visitors last year. Before the pandemic crippled global travel, the aim was to reach 20 million this year.

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