Netanyahu visited at the invitation of the President of the Emirates. Collected photos
Abu Dhabi has finally issued an official statement on occupied Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the United Arab Emirates. The country’s state news agency WAM reported that Netanyahu met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Sunday.
According to a WAM report, the meeting discussed bilateral relations between the UAE and Israel and ways to further strengthen and develop them.
Netanyahu’s visit, which had previously been kept secret, was confirmed for the first time by the Emirates on Monday (September 28) after reports emerged in Israeli media.
The Emirates said that Netanyahu visited at the invitation of the country’s president.
However, the visit comes at a time when there is renewed debate about whether Netanyahu was warned before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently claimed that Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed warned Netanyahu by phone about a possible major Hamas operation about 10 days before the October 7 attacks. Netanyahu’s office, however, denied the claim and called the report politically motivated.
However, some reports surrounding Netanyahu’s recent visit, which is subject to an ICC warrant, claimed that Netanyahu had requested the UAE president to deny the report of the warning. However, the UAE has not directly confirmed or denied the allegations.
The country’s Foreign Ministry had previously stated that necessary intelligence information is exchanged between the relevant authorities between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that three senior Israeli officials said that Sunday’s meeting lasted about six hours and that the regional security situation, including Iran, was also important in the discussions. However, the official statement from the Emirates only mentioned strengthening bilateral relations as the agenda of the meeting.
Relations between the Emirates and Israel have grown closer since the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 through the Abraham Accords, brokered by the United States.