Israeli media, including Channel 12, KAN, Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post, also reported the visit. Channel 12 said Netanyahu travelled on a private plane and spent several hours in Abu Dhabi. Neither Netanyahu’s office nor the UAE Foreign Ministry immediately commented on the meeting.
The visit comes as Israel faces renewed scrutiny over reports that Sheikh Mohammed warned Netanyahu shortly before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that the group was preparing a major operation.
Haaretz reported earlier this month that the warning was delivered directly to Netanyahu but was not passed on to Israel’s security leadership. Netanyahu has denied the report and threatened legal action against the newspaper.
The reported warning has also become part of a wider debate in Israel over the security failures preceding the October 7 attack. Netanyahu has faced criticism from opposition figures over his government’s handling of the events leading up to the attack.
The UAE has not directly commented on the reported warning. Abu Dhabi has previously described its relationship with Israel as involving open and direct channels of communication.
The latest meeting also follows conflicting accounts over an earlier reported Netanyahu visit to the UAE during the Iran war. In May, Netanyahu’s office said he had secretly visited the UAE and met Sheikh Mohammed, while Abu Dhabi denied that the visit had taken place. A source familiar with the matter later told Reuters that the two leaders had met in Al Ain on March 26.
Israel and the UAE established diplomatic relations in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords, making the Emirates one of the first Arab states to formally normalise ties with Israel.
Their security relationship has gained greater significance amid the wider regional conflict. The UAE has faced Iranian attacks and has simultaneously strengthened security ties with both Washington and Israel.
The reported Abu Dhabi meeting therefore comes against a backdrop of close but sensitive Israel-UAE relations, heightened regional tensions and renewed political scrutiny in Israel over what Netanyahu knew before the October 7 attack.
