UAE confirms Israel PM Netanyahu’s visit to Abu Dhabi
The visit took place as the Israeli prime minister battles domestic turmoil ahead of October’s Knesset elections.
The United Arab Emirates has confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a visit to the country over the weekend.
The confirmation late on Monday came a day after the Israeli leader made the secret trip to the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi. The visit came a month before Israeli elections and amid controversy over reports alleging that Bin Zayed, known as MBZ, had warned Netanyahu that a major Hamas operation was likely just ahead of the attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
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“During the meeting, the two sides discussed bilateral relations between the UAE and Israel and ways to strengthen and develop them,” the official Emirates News Agency, WAM, reported on Monday. The meeting was earlier reported in the Israeli press.
Palestinian fighters killed at least 1,195 people in southern Israel during the attack and took around 250 captive. Israel’s response developed into a genocidal war on Gaza, in which at least 73,669 Palestinians have been killed.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on September 9 that the UAE president spoke to Netanyahu on the phone about 10 days before the attack, warning him of a threat made by then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar that he was preparing a “huge surprise”.
Bin Zayed had previously alerted Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency, the Haaretz report said.
Netanyahu’s office has denied that the prime minister received information ahead of the attacks.
Netanyahu said the following day that he would sue Haaretz, calling its report “fabricated” and “politically motivated”.
Warming relations
Relations between Israel and the UAE have warmed since the UAE signed the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, which normalised ties between Israel and a number of Arab states.
United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in May that Israel had deployed Iron Dome air defence batteries and personnel to the UAE to help defend against potential Iranian attacks.
Israel’s Channel 12 first reported on Netanyahu’s trip to the UAE over the weekend. Shin Bet said on Monday that it had filed a complaint with Israel’s military censor, saying the report endangered the prime minister and exposed the intelligence agency’s operational methods, The Associated Press news agency reported.
The allegation that the prime minister ignored a warning regarding the Hamas attack comes as Netanyahu is trying to secure his position in the upcoming Knesset elections, scheduled for October.
He has been trailing in the polls, facing a fierce challenge from former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.
