Netanyahu’s visit comes amid claims that the UAE had warned him shortly before October 7.
A person familiar with the meeting later said the two leaders had met in Al-Ain, an oasis city in Abu Dhabi near the border with Oman, on March 26. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported earlier this month that Sheikh Mohammed had raised the warning with Netanyahu around a week and a half before the Hamas attack.
The report said the information was not subsequently passed to Israeli intelligence agencies or the military. It has previously said that the two countries have maintained “open and direct lines of communication” since establishing diplomatic relations in 2020. Earlier this year, the UAE denied that Sheikh Mohammed had met Netanyahu after the Israeli prime minister’s office said in May that Netanyahu had “secretly visited” the Gulf country.
However, neither Netanyahu’s office nor the UAE foreign ministry immediately issued a public statement on the meeting. The UAE has not commented directly on the Haaretz report. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, a senior Israeli official told news agency Reuters, as the two countries navigate a sensitive regional security environment.