UAE-funded Israeli mercenary ran surveillance operation against British activist

An Israeli-Hungarian mercenary ran a covert surveillance operation against a British activist and think-tanker. The operation was funded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). One member of the surveillance team even suspected the operation was part of a lead-up to an assassination attempt.

ITV News reported on 19 August that US-based mercenary Abraham Golan had organised a UAE-funded close surveillance operation against Anas Altikriti. Altikriti is a former Stop the War Coalition vice president and hostage negotiator. He is also a founder member of the Cordoba Foundation thinktank.

The surveillance took place in 2016. Golan has a long history with the UAE:

A former French Foreign Legion soldier, Golan had been hired by the United Arab Emirates, which paid his company, Spear Operations Group, millions of dollars to assemble a covert unit of Western military veterans for operations on the front line.

ITV presented Altikriti in 2026 with a dossier:

containing a sustained, granular intelligence operation tracking his every move: photographs of his home and car, and WhatsApp communications between members of a surveillance team detailing his daily life – from his commute and school runs to visits to a local mosque where he was scheduled to lecture.

The police had also warned Altikriti about a potential threat to his life in 2016. ITV’s new report shows how Golan had formed a team to observe his every move.

UAE — Close target surveillance

ITV found that secret Emirati reports filed weeks after Golan’s London trip to organise the operation:

show that Golan was being paid by the UAE throughout his London operation, which included a month of planning and at least several days on the ground.

And:

The records also lay bare the financial incentives behind his contract with the Emiratis: a six-figure retainer for his work that year, plus huge bonuses: just a few weeks before his arrival in London, he received a one-million-dollar payout for an operation against a previous target in Yemen.

The Cordoba Foundation was one of three UK activist groups the UAE proscribed in 2014. The authoritarian state claims it has links to the Muslim Brotherhood. Altikriti’s father was a prominent member of the Brotherhood in Iraq.

Altikriti told ITV:

I have good relations, because my father is my father. I understand the ideology, I studied the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood; I believe the Muslim Brotherhood to be a valid ideology for people who are seeking to free themselves from the clutches of oppression.

However, I’m a Brit, I grew up in Britain. In my life I have never done anything wrong whatsoever.

A private security operative known as Victor told ITV how he felt the surveillance operation seemed more and more like the precursor to an assassination. He ultimately refused to continue working with Golan:

I became increasingly worried about what this operation entailed.

At a subsequent meeting:

Golan’s [other] associate asked: ‘What would happen if Anas Altikriti was…’” – he fell silent and drew a finger across his throat. “That suggested to me that the operation was ultimately about – or could become about – physically eliminating Anas Altikriti,” Victor said.

Golan, the UAE and the UK government offered little to no response to ITV’s questions.

Altikriti is alive and well today. Yet the UAE operation speaks to the reach and power of the US, UK and Israeli-allied Gulf state. Its bottomless wealth and powerful connections make it a potentially deadly opponent to critics, even if they are based inside countries like the UK.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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