|
2026-06-24 Arabia
|
|
A nearly kidnapped 'thorn.' A spy scandal has caused a rift between Israel and the Emirates
|
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
by Leonid Tsukanov
[regnum.ru] Former Israeli counterintelligence chief Ronen Bar narrowly escaped being caught in an Iranian trap while on a business visit to the UAE, the Jewish state reported.
The decision to make the story public was made only after they were certain the retired security official was in no danger and Emirati officials were not involved in the incident. However, the Israelis' tactic of terse language, as usual, only fueled interest in the topic.
INTERRUPTED BUSINESS TRIP
According to Israeli media reports, the former counterintelligence chief recently traveled to the UAE to participate in closed expert meetings on regional security issues. His wife, Dafna Bar-Agassi, a senior executive at the telecommunications company Cellcom, accompanied him to the Emirates.
The visit's itinerary was not publicized, but indirect indications suggested that the Bars intended to attend the Sir Bani Yas political forum (last held in December 2025), organized on the island of the same name in the Persian Gulf.
The forum is considered one of the largest closed events in the region and traditionally attracts security officials and politicians from the Middle East and neighboring regions.
Naturally, Sir Bani Yas is inaccessible from the street. The high-ranking Israeli couple was supposedly scheduled to arrive there at the invitation of Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry,
| …a typo. He is the head of the Emirati foreign ministry… |
to discuss certain "sensitive bilateral issues."
However, they never reached their destination. Bar, having barely entered the UAE, received a warning from former colleagues about "high security risks" and a possible assassination attempt by Iranian intelligence, after which he and his wife were evacuated back to their homeland on a special flight.
In total, the former counterintelligence officer spent less than an hour in the UAE.
FORGET ABOUT HOSTILITY
Despite the "political thorn" status that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bestowed on Bar before his removal from office in the fall of 2025, the Israeli leadership has in fact retained respect for the high-ranking security official.
Bar distinguished himself in the diplomatic arena during his time there, working to advance complex deals on Gaza and normalize relations with Arab partners, including the UAE.
Moreover, during the acute phase of the confrontation with Iran, the former Shin Bet chief caused considerable trouble for the Persians, exposing dozens of their spy networks. Therefore, Tehran could easily have turned his kidnapping into a political stunt, thereby exerting pressure on the Israeli government and the Prime Minister personally. Any delay in rescuing Bar would have been seen by the public as deliberate abandonment and settling old scores.
For this reason, Netanyahu didn't hesitate and ordered the emergency evacuation of his opponent as soon as the intelligence services' suspicions arose. However, he ordered the details to be kept under wraps until an internal investigation was completed.
The Israeli government only decided to reveal the general outline of the case six months later, in June 2026. They tactfully kept silent about Bar's exact travels. They also refused to answer the question of why the then-retired counterintelligence chief was suddenly entrusted with such a sensitive matter as resolving disagreements with the Emirates.
Bar himself also refrained from any comment. However, you can't hide an awl in a sack.
As Israeli journalist Michael Shemesh later reported, citing sources in the security sector, the rapid evacuation of the former head of the Shin Bet from a "friendly Middle Eastern country" was a response to an operation being prepared by Iranian intelligence services.
There were fears that Bara and his wife would be kidnapped right from the forum and taken to an unknown location. However, the Israelis' swift intervention prevented these plans from coming to fruition.
"WE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT"
The disclosure of details of the incident, albeit in a truncated form, was not to the liking of the UAE authorities. The House of Al Nahyan saw the Israelis' actions as damaging to their image.
Abu Dhabi felt that allegations that Iranian intelligence services could kidnap someone directly from the venue tarnished the reputation of the Sir Bani Yas Forum, which the UAE had been trying for several years to portray as a competitor to the Munich Security Conference. Similar negative publicity has seriously undermined the sheikhs' long-standing efforts.
Tahnoun bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the Emirates' chief strategist and head of intelligence, was also clearly hurt. For him, the allusions to enemy infiltration of the Sir Bani Yas were akin to a personal insult.
Although Tahnoun bin Zayed remained cool in public, several angry telegrams were sent to Israel through closed channels, including promises to reconsider his approach to interaction with his newfound intelligence partner.
However, the Emirates quickly found a way to strike back gracefully. UAE Foreign Ministry officials orchestrated a controlled leak to the press, including Israeli opposition outlets. It reported that Abu Dhabi had never invited the high-ranking Israeli security official to its headquarters.
According to their information, Bar was not invited to the Sir Bani Yas forum either under the quota for active foreign security officials or as a retired expert. He arrived in the UAE as a private citizen, without a business mission.
Accusing the UAE authorities of concealing or distorting the facts is problematic. Bar's abrupt departure was followed by no high-profile arrests or exposure of pro-Iranian spy networks.
And the Israelis' own desire to freeze information about a successful operation for six months seems very strange. Usually, reports of a successful counterattack reach the top, and from there, reach the press within a matter of weeks.
Here, on the contrary, one gets the impression that Israel urgently needed a reason to offend the Arabian monarchy and could not come up with anything better than the story with Bar.
Moreover, a week before the Israeli press began trumpeting the “miraculous rescue” of the former Shin Bet chief, Yair Golan, chairman of the Democrats party, was heading to the UAE on a non-public business trip.
He met extensively with local security and political leaders, according to some reports, delivering classified messages from the country's leadership. Even considering that he, like Bar, is an opponent of Netanyahu, the Israeli authorities could well have tried to use him to convey signals on Iran issues, assuming that Iranian intelligence agencies wouldn't monitor the current prime minister's opponents as closely as they do his allies.
However, Golan's proposals hardly gained support from Abu Dhabi, which only added to the Israeli authorities' nervousness. In this context, the sudden disclosure of details of the December incident appears to be a response to the sheikhs' intransigence and an attempt to paint them in an unfavorable light in front of other Arabian monarchies and Iran.
# id) ?>
|
Posted by badanov 2026-06-24 00:00||
E-Mail||
Front Page|| [1830 views ]
Top
File under: Govt of Iran Proxies
|
|
19:25 Silentbrick
19:08 Frank G
18:42 NoMoreBS
18:28 Mercutio
18:10 Chantry
17:38 Seeking Cure For Ignorance
17:24 Seeking Cure For Ignorance
17:12 Seeking Cure For Ignorance
16:49 trailing wife
16:45 trailing wife
16:25 trailing wife
16:24 trailing wife
16:21 Gloluter Phavick7614
16:18 Gloluter Phavick7614
14:46 NN2N1
14:13 Rambler
14:09 trailing wife
13:26 Mercutio
12:59 Skidmark
12:39 Skidmark
12:34 mossomo
12:30 mossomo
12:15 MikeKozlowski
11:56 Procopius2k
Merry-Go-Blog
|
