Nine months after the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid took off July 29 for a historic visit to the United Arab Emirates. Heading a senior delegation from the Foreign Ministry, Lapid inaugurated the Israeli Embassy in Abu Dhabi — an event originally planned by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu, as one of the architects of the Abraham Accords, had planned to use the inauguration in his election campaign, but the ceremony was pushed back several times.

Now Lapid has a leadership position and is more the government’s strong man than Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. He has succeeded in positioning himself as the leader of Israel’s center-left and it will serve him well in the coming years.

According to the rotation agreement with Bennett, Lapid will replace the latter in about two years. But even if that plan goes awry, Lapid will reach the coming elections strengthened by experience in the diplomatic realm. Lapid also has numerical strength over Bennett with regard to the size of his bloc; it is clear that the center-left parties are succeeding in setting the tone.

As Lapid builds his diplomatic agenda as foreign minister, he must set himself apart from Netanyahu, who remains in the opposition as the undisputed leader of the right, and also from his partner Bennett, head of the right-wing Yamina, which advocates annexation of the territories.