The Tel Aviv District Planning and Building Committee on Tuesday approved a plan to establish the United Arab Emirates’ permanent embassy compound in Israel, to be built at 9 Sapir Street in the commercial district of Herzliya Pituach.
The project, designated as an initiative of major diplomatic and national importance, advances the foundation established by the 2020 Abraham Accords and the formal normalization of diplomatic ties between Israel and the UAE. Currently, the Emirati embassy operates from temporary offices in Tel Aviv and Herzliya; the approved complex will serve as its permanent home.
1+Under the approved plan, a complex rising to 15 stories will be constructed across approximately 2.5 dunams (0.62 acres), encompassing up to 15,000 square meters of total building area. Up to 20% of the building rights will be dedicated to residential quarters for the ambassador and senior diplomatic corps personnel on the building’s top floors. Additionally, the development framework includes a dedicated, secure access entrance to an underground parking facility, widening the right-of-way along Sapir Street, and developing public space with shade trees and upgraded pedestrian infrastructure.
1+The Herzliya Municipality owns the plot designated for the embassy. As part of the arrangement, and in coordination with the Israel Land Authority (ILA), the municipality is transferring the parcel to the state to be leased long-term to the United Arab Emirates, in exchange for an alternative municipal lot in the Herzliya Marina district. Erez Ben Eliezer, Tel Aviv District Planner at the Planning Administration, emphasized that the project constitutes an “important and significant initiative for the city of Herzliya, the Tel Aviv District, and the State of Israel,” adding that stationing the embassy adjacent to the city’s high-tech and business hubs will directly foster deeper international ties and future commercial partnerships.