Netanyahu flew on a private plane to Abu Dhabi shortly after noon, landed at 3:10 p.m. and spent four hours in the UAE, according to Channel 12.
The Prime Minister’s Office, the Emirati embassy in Israel and the UAE’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The visit comes amid controversy in Israel over an ostensible warning given by the Emirati leader, known as MBZ, to Netanyahu a week and a half before the Hamas
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...-led invasion and onslaught of October 7, 2023.
The Haaretz daily reported this month that MBZ had warned the premier that the Paleostinian terror group was planning a major operation against Israel. The warning was not passed to Israeli intelligence agencies or the military, the report said.
Netanyahu, who has denied the report and threatened legal action against the newspaper, is facing a tough reelection campaign. Opposition leaders have accused the prime minister of bearing responsibility for security failures that preceded the October 7 attack.
The UAE has declined to comment on the Haaretz report but 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 Rooters that the UAE discusses security matters with countries through the "relevant entities," but not "at the level of national leaders."
Earlier this year, the UAE denied that MBZ met with Netanyahu after the latter’s office said in May that the premier had "secretly visited" the Gulf country and met with the president.
A source familiar with the meeting said at the time that Netanyahu and MBZ met in al-Ain, an oasis city in Abu Dhabi along the country’s border with Oman, on March 26.
Channel 12 reported at the time that Emirati officials had explicitly asked that the meeting remain confidential and were angered by Netanyahu’s decision to disclose it, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the countries despite warming ties.
The network had reported that Netanyahu’s decision to reveal the earlier visit was driven by internal political concerns after learning that former prime minister Naftali Bennett — a Netanyahu rival in next month’s Knesset election — had been expected to travel to the UAE the following day for meetings with MBZ and senior Emirati officials.
Since coming under attack during the Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for
spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
war, the UAE has strengthened its relationships with the United States and Israel, with which it opened ties as a result of the 2020 Abraham Accords. The relationship with Israel gives UAE a lever for regional influence and a unique channel to Washington.