United Arab Emirates news agency WAM reported on Monday that the UAE's government had facilitated the reunion of two Jewish families long separated by financial troubles and Yemen's national security crisis, including paying their travel expenses from London to Abu Dhabi
One of the individuals in question, 35-year-old Yitzhchak Fayez, had not seen his grandparents or uncle since relocating to London as a child.
"I was only a child when I last met them," he recalled. "My own children are meeting them for the first time, as we are reunited after twenty-one years apart. The UAE has made my dream come true."
Losa Fayez, Yitzchak's mother, called the reunion the end of twenty-one years of suffering. Grandfather Soliman Fayez and grandmother Sham’a Soliman, called the moment an indelible part of the family history.
The second family to be reunited, known as the Salem family, has been apart for fifteen years in all, including Haron Salem, his wife, and two children. “We are indescribably happy to see our relatives again, and forever grateful to the UAE," Salem commented. "This country is truly the homeland of peace and caring."
Rabbi Ellie Abadie, the senior rabbi of the UAE Jewish community, publicly thanked the government for "their great humanitarian deed" in reuniting the families.