At Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport, more than a year of war has taken its toll. Global airlines have cancelled flights, gates are empty and pictures of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip guide the few arriving passengers to baggage claim. But one check-in desk remains flush with travellers: the one serving flights to the United Arab Emirates, which have kept up a bridge for Israelis to the outside world throughout the war. The Emirati flights, in addition to bolstering the airlines' bottom line, have shined a light on the countries' burgeoning ties which have survived the wars raging across the Middle East and could be further strengthened as US President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to office. It's a political and economic statement, said Joshua Teitelbaum, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Israel's Bar-Ilan University. They are the main foreign airlines that continue to fly. Since the wars began with Hamas' initial October 7, 2023, attack on Israel,