Netanyahu Made Secret Abu Dhabi Trip, Israeli Media Report

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an unannounced visit to Abu Dhabi on Sunday and met with United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to Israeli media reports citing sources familiar with the trip.¹²³⁴

A quiet trip to the Gulf

Israeli reports say Netanyahu left Ben Gurion Airport on a private executive jet and touched down in Abu Dhabi at 3:10 p.m. local time, before flying back out at 7:10 p.m., putting his time in the Emirati capital at roughly four hours.¹

The trip is said to have taken up most of the day and centered mainly on a private, one-on-one discussion between the two leaders, while Netanyahu's aides flew separately aboard several other private aircraft. One report noted that the visit followed Netanyahu's speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York by two days and preceded the launch of Israel's election campaign by about a month.¹³

When asked about the meeting, Netanyahu's office offered no response, one report said, adding elsewhere that it "declined to provide further details about the meeting."⁷

A relationship with a history of secrecy

Israel and the UAE established diplomatic relations in 2020 under the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords. According to Israeli media, Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohammed had previously met in Al-Ain on March 26, a meeting the UAE later denied had taken place in the form disclosed. Netanyahu's office disclosed that earlier Al-Ain meeting only in May.²³⁹

One report said Netanyahu's May visit to the UAE, made during the Iran war, produced what it described as a breakthrough in relations, but that the later disclosure of the trip created tension with Abu Dhabi. The same report noted that the Emirates have deepened its relationships with both the United States and Israel in the period following the strikes it endured amid the Iran war.¹²

One report cited the UAE as saying communication between the two nations remains direct and open, though it added that security issues are handled through appropriate institutional channels rather than direct leader-to-leader contact.²⁴

Warning before October 7

In a separate account, Haaretz reported that roughly ten days before the October 7, 2023 assault, Sheikh Mohamed alerted Netanyahu that Hamas's Gaza chief, Yahya Sinwar, was preparing a large-scale strike on Israel and pressed him to respond to the tip. According to that report, the two leaders spoke for 45 minutes and Netanyahu responded with relative calm.²¹

According to Israeli reports, the warning was not passed on to Israeli intelligence agencies or the military. One report said the Emirati leader had feared the anticipated attack would destabilize the region and damage the Abraham Accords, and that no Emirati official has publicly denied the call took place.²⁹¹

One report said Netanyahu has rejected Haaretz's account and warned he may pursue legal action against the publication. Opposition leaders have accused him of bearing responsibility for security failures preceding the October 7 attack, according to the same report.²