Thomas Nides was just three months removed from his role as U.S. ambassador to Israel when he accepted an invitation from Jewish philanthropist Dr. Miriam Adelson, who was soon to purchase the Dallas Mavericks, to attend a preseason National Basketball Association game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Mavs in Abu Dhabi.

Nides, who grew up in Duluth, Minn., was sitting in a restaurant with Adelson, some of the basketball players, U.S. envoy to the United Arab Emirates Yousef Al Otaiba and American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch on Oct. 7, after the second of two games, in two days, that the teams played in Abu Dhabi.

“I remember this as yesterday,” Nides told JNS. “We were sitting there, and we were toasting the success of the Abraham Accords. I raised my glass both to Yousef,

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