Netanyahu secretly visits UAE during illegal attack on Iran

Benjamin Netanyahu claims he paid a “secret visit” to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during his illegal and unprovoked attacks on Iran.

The UAE has denied the visit, which brings into question both states’ motives.

Conflicting statements

The statement on X, from the official account of the Prime Minister of Israel, stated:

In the midst of Operation Roaring Lion, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited the United Arab Emirates, where he met with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed.

This visit has led to a historic breakthrough in relations between Israel and the UAE.

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However, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) then stated:

The United Arab Emirates denies reports circulating regarding an alleged visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the UAE, or receiving any Israeli military delegation in the country.

The UAE reaffirms that its relations with Israel are public and conducted within the framework of the well-known and officially declared Abraham Accords, and are not based on non-transparent or unofficial arrangements. Accordingly, any claims regarding unannounced visits or undisclosed arrangements are entirely unfounded unless officially announced by the relevant authorities in the UAE.

The UAE calls on media outlets to exercise accuracy and professionalism, and to refrain from circulating unverified information or promoting misleading political narratives.

The head of Netanyahu’s office at the time, Ziv Agmon, also contradicted the UAE’s claims. He stated that Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed personally welcomed and drove Netanyahu:

This comes days only after both Reuters and the WSJ revealed the UAE carried out secret military strikes on Iran.

Additionally, according to Israeli and US officials, Israel sent the UAE an Iron Dome air defence system, along with troops to operate it.

Iran fired around 550 ballistic and cruise missiles and more than 2,200 drones at the UAE. Most were intercepted. However, some hit military and civilian targets in the country.

Abraham Accords

Iran has previously criticised the UAE over its close ties to Israel. The Abraham Accords of 2020 formalised these ties.

Essentially, the United States mediated an agreement between the UAE, Bahrain and Israel, promising to normalise ties between these Arab Gulf states and Israel. Since then, Morocco and Sudan both joined the Accords.

The Accords established full diplomatic relations and included plans to advance economic, security, and other ties.

However, the UAE government found it hard to deal with Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and other far-right genocidal maniacs, who came to power in Israel in 2022.

The first paragraph of the Accords states:

We, the undersigned, recognize the importance of maintaining and strengthening peace in the Middle East and around the world based on mutual understanding and coexistence, as well as respect for human dignity and freedom, including religious freedom.

Obviously, by committing its illegal war on Iran, carrying out multiple genocides and illegal occupations in Lebanon and Gaza, and its additional illegal occupation in the Syrian Golan Heights, Israel has failed to abide by even the first paragraph.

Nothing says “mutual understanding and coexistence” and “respect for human dignity” like waging multiple genocides at the same time.

Flight plans don’t lie

Since Netanyahu’s alleged visit to the UAE, open source activists have published the route and flight data for two private aircraft that travelled from Tel Aviv to Al Ain in the UAE on March 26.

This means the UAE no longer has plausible deniability.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, has since said that those “colluding with Israel” will be “held to account”:

More lies…

This is not the first time that either Israel or the UAE have lied about their shady dealings.

Israel previously claimed that the UAE attacked an Iranian desalination plant. However, the UAE firmly denied the allegations and slammed Israel’s lies.

We know Israel lies. However, we also know that there is nothing it loves more than refusing to take accountability, stitching other people up and damaging their reputations in the process.

And as social media users have pointed out, it is also distinctly possible that the UAE wanted to keep the visit a secret, and either Netanyahu played the UAE, or the UAE panicked after Abbas Aragchi’s Tweet:

The UAE may be attempting to hide its direct involvement in Israel and the US’s illegal attacks on Iran. Or Israel may be stitching it up. Either way, both states are directly involved in illegal attacks against Iranian civilians and Israel’s ongoing genocides in both Gaza and Lebanon.

Featured image via HG

By HG

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