Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, founding chairman of Al Habtoor Group (AHG), a large conglomerate headquartered in the UAE in Dubai, told Channel 13 that while he was against wars, he "supports the erasure of all terrorists from the face of the earth."
"Hezbollah controls everything and while they are present there is nothing we can do to help. Someone must get rid of them, and the only state, in my opinion, that has a shared border with Lebanon is Israel," said Al Habtoor. "So Israel needs to deal with Hezbollah. This will allow Israel and Lebanon to get closer to each other."
Concerning the normalization agreement between Israel and the UAE, the businessman told Channel 13 that Israelis should visit the country "because they have no other choice, because this is the most beautiful and safe country in the world."
"This is a time of engagement between us. We are exploring how we can help each other and cooperate," added Al Habtoor. "In our mentality, it is important for us to meet. We are businessmen. We do not want to waste time on things like politics and so on. We want to feel at home and want them to feel at home here. You are part of us. I welcome you to my country."
In October, Al Habtoor met with Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum during a visit by Hassan-Nahoum and the UAE-Israel Business Council in Dubai.
The businessman also entered negotiations with Israir in August to bring Israeli tourists to the UAE.
Al Habtoor called for peace with Israel well before the normalization agreement was signed, posting a video on Twitter in 2019 asking why members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, did not sign peace treaties with Israel.