Media: Netanyahu makes secret trip to Abu Dhabi for talks with UAE president

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Abu Dhabi on September 27 for a meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a senior Israeli official told Reuters.

The trip had not been announced by the Israeli prime minister’s office. Neither Netanyahu’s office nor the UAE Foreign Ministry immediately provided comment.

The visit follows a report published by Israeli newspaper Haaretz earlier this month claiming that Sheikh Mohamed had cautioned Netanyahu about a major Hamas operation against Israel approximately a week and a half before October 7, 2023. According to Haaretz, the warning was not relayed to Israeli intelligence agencies or the military.

Netanyahu has rejected the report and threatened to take legal action against the newspaper. He is also confronting a difficult reelection campaign, with opposition figures accusing him of responsibility for security lapses in the period leading up to Hamas’ October 7 attack.

The UAE has not commented on the Haaretz report. However, Abu Dhabi has said that the UAE and Israel have maintained “open and direct lines of communication” since establishing diplomatic relations in 2020.

A UAE source previously told Reuters that the country discusses security issues with other states through the “relevant entities,” rather than “at the level of national leaders.”

The UAE also denied earlier this year that Sheikh Mohamed had met with Netanyahu, after the Israeli prime minister’s office announced in May that Netanyahu had "secretly visited" the Gulf state and held talks with the president.

By Jeyhun Aghazada