Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a "secret" visit to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday and met with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, an Israeli source familiar with the visit told CNN.
The source said that the Iran issue dominated the agenda, and it is an area on which the two countries have deepened their cooperation, including during the current war on Iran.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office did not confirm the visit, and CNN also contacted the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
This rare visit, if confirmed, comes a month before the Israeli elections scheduled for next October 27, and against the backdrop of an escalating political controversy in Israel over reports published by Haaretz and the New York Times, claiming that Mohammed bin Zayed warned Netanyahu of a major Hamas operation, days before the attack on October 7, 2023.
Separately, The Atlantic reported that (former) Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel traveled to Israel on September 26, 2023, to warn that the situation in Gaza would “explode.” The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Egypt had sent at least three warnings to Israel regarding Gaza, the last of which was via a phone call with Netanyahu a few days before the attack.
Netanyahu's office has repeatedly denied receiving any warning, calling the reports "concocted lies" aimed at damaging him electorally. However, his opponents exploited these allegations to make the issue of accountability for failure to prevent the October 7, 2023 attack a central issue in the election campaign.
Following initial reports regarding Mohammed bin Zayed's warning, the UAE Foreign Ministry announced earlier this month that it "does not comment on media reports or speculation regarding talks between government leaders," but did not deny making the call. “When necessary, all relevant intelligence information has been and continues to be shared between relevant authorities,” the statement said.
At the time, an Israeli source familiar with the matter said that Netanyahu's office tried to get the UAE to deny the report, but the UAE only agreed to issue a statement on intelligence sharing.
The Likud Party, led by Netanyahu, later issued a statement published on the Prime Minister’s account on the “X” platform, alleging the presence of “blatant foreign interference” in the Israeli elections on the part of Palestinian politician Muhammad Dahlan, who resides in the Emirates. The party did not provide any evidence to support this claim.
At the same time, Netanyahu's opponents took advantage of this warning to renew their attacks on his handling of the events that preceded October 7.
Gadi Eisenkot, who is currently leading in opinion polls as the prime minister's main competitor in the upcoming Israeli elections, said on Saturday that the revelation of this warning "leaves no room for doubt that Netanyahu, blindly, arrogantly and irresponsibly, led the State of Israel to the greatest disaster in its history."
In May, Netanyahu's office announced that the prime minister secretly visited the United Arab Emirates in March, during the first days of the war with Iran, describing the visit as a "historic breakthrough." However, the UAE Foreign Ministry denied this claim at the time, describing it as "completely false."
Netanyahu has never made a publicly recognized official visit to the Emirates.
