Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an unannounced visit to Abu Dhabi on Sunday and met UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to a senior Israeli official and Israeli media reports. The meeting comes amid heightened regional tensions and renewed scrutiny over a reported warning by the UAE leader before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.
Jerusalem, Sept 2026 : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an unannounced visit to Abu Dhabi on Sunday and met United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to a senior Israeli official and reports by Israeli media.
The visit, which was not publicly announced in advance, was also reported by Israeli television channels 12 and KAN, as well as Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. The senior Israeli official confirmed to Reuters that Netanyahu travelled to Abu Dhabi and held talks with Sheikh Mohamed. Neither Netanyahu's office nor the UAE Foreign Ministry immediately issued a public comment on the reported meeting.
The reported one-day visit comes against the backdrop of continuing regional tensions following the Israel-US war against Iran that began in February. The UAE has maintained diplomatic relations with Israel while also preserving close ties with the United States, as the wider Gulf region faces security and maritime concerns linked to the conflict.
The meeting has also drawn attention because of renewed controversy surrounding a reported warning that Sheikh Mohamed allegedly gave Netanyahu before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. Haaretz reported earlier this month that the Emirati president had warned Netanyahu about a planned major Hamas operation approximately a week and a half before the attack.
According to the report, the information was not passed on to Israeli intelligence agencies or the military. Netanyahu has strongly denied the allegation and threatened legal action against Haaretz. The UAE has not publicly confirmed the reported conversation.
The issue has become politically sensitive in Israel, where opposition figures have criticised Netanyahu over security failures preceding the October 7 attack. The allegations remain disputed, with Netanyahu rejecting the account and the UAE declining to directly comment on the report.
The latest meeting also highlights the continuing relationship between Israel and the UAE, which formally established diplomatic ties in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords. The normalisation agreement opened the way for cooperation in areas including trade, investment, technology, tourism and security.
The UAE has previously said that Israel and Abu Dhabi maintain open and direct channels of communication. A UAE source told Reuters earlier that security matters are generally discussed with other countries through the "relevant entities" rather than directly at the level of national leaders.
The reported Abu Dhabi visit is not the first recent instance of uncertainty surrounding high-level contacts between Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohamed. Earlier this year, the UAE denied that the two leaders had met after Netanyahu's office said in May that the Israeli prime minister had secretly visited the Gulf state.
A person familiar with the matter subsequently said the two leaders had met in Al Ain, an oasis city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi near the border with Oman, on March 26.
The latest encounter therefore comes at a sensitive moment for bilateral ties and wider Middle East diplomacy. Israel and the UAE have maintained their formal relationship despite disagreements over regional conflicts and broader questions surrounding the Palestinian issue.
For Abu Dhabi, maintaining channels with Israel and Washington provides avenues for regional engagement as it seeks to navigate the wider security environment. For Jerusalem, the UAE remains one of the most prominent Arab states with which Israel established open diplomatic relations following the Abraham Accords.
Details of Sunday's meeting, including the subjects discussed and whether any agreements were reached, were not immediately disclosed. The absence of an official announcement from either government leaves the precise agenda of the talks unclear, although the encounter comes amid heightened regional tensions and renewed focus on Israel-UAE security communications.
(Disclaimer :The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)
