Israeli media reported on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an unannounced one-day visit to the United Arab Emirates, where he met with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Netanyahu’s office had not immediately issued a comment. The Abraham Accords were initially brokered by Donald Trump during his first term as US president. Israeli television channels 12 and KAN, along with the newspapers Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post, reported the visit, according to an AFP news agency report. The visit follows a recent report in the Israeli media alleging that UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed had warned Netanyahu about the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. Former military commander Gadi Eisenkot, who has emerged as a leading rival to Netanyahu ahead of the October 27 elections, accused the prime minister of attempting to evade responsibility for the security failures. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed the agreements in 2020, becoming the first Arab countries in 25 years to formally establish diplomatic relations with Israel and breaking a long-standing regional taboo, according to Reuters.
The warning was not passed on to Israeli security officials, according to the report. Netanyahu’s office dismissed the newspaper’s report as “an absolute lie,” stating that the prime minister had not spoken with the Emirati president during the period in question and had received no warning from him.
