Netanyahu takes ‘secret’ trip to UAE, meets President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu visited Abu Dhabi on Sunday and met with United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a visit that was not announced in advance, a senior Israeli official has told an international news agency.

Israeli media, including TV channels 12 and KAN and newspapers Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post, also reported that Netanyahu travelled to the UAE for a one-day visit to meet Sheikh Mohamed.

Neither Netanyahu’s office nor the UAE foreign ministry immediately commented on the reported meeting.

The visit comes after Haaretz reported earlier this month that Sheikh Mohamed had warned Netanyahu about a planned major operation by Hamas around a week and a half before October 7, 2023.

The newspaper reported that the warning did not reach Israeli intelligence agencies or the military.

Netanyahu has denied the report and threatened legal action against Haaretz. He is also facing a rocky reelection campaign, while opposition leaders have accused him of bearing responsibility for security failures before Hamas’ October 7 attack.

The UAE has not commented on the Haaretz report but has said that it and Israel have maintained “open and direct lines of communication” since establishing diplomatic relations in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords.

A UAE source previously told international media that the UAE discusses security matters with other countries through the “relevant entities”, but not “at the level of national leaders”.

The latest meeting also follows a dispute over an earlier reported meeting between Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohamed.

In May, Netanyahu’s office stated that the Israeli prime minister had “secretly visited” the UAE and met its president. The UAE denied that Sheikh Mohamed had met Netanyahu during the Iran war.

However, a source familiar with the matter later said that the two leaders had met on March 26 in Al Ain, an oasis city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi near the border with Oman.

The UAE and Israel established diplomatic relations in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords. Since coming under attack during the Iran war, the UAE has strengthened its relationships with the United States (US) and Israel.