Senior Emirati scholar says ‘war criminal’ Netanyahu never visited UAE

Emirati scholar Abdulkhaleq Abdulla has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "war criminal" who is wholly unwelcome in the United Arab Emirates, after the country's foreign ministry issued a statement denying that Netanyahu ever came to visit UAE ruler Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. 

Netanyahu made a "secret" visit to the UAE in March, amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, his own office said in a statement on Wednesday. 

"There is no welcome whatsoever for a war criminal and the killer of Gaza's children on the pure soil of the Emirates," Abdulla, who is a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, DC, wrote on X on Thursday.

"The visit that Netanyahu is talking about is a fabrication from his sick imagination, and it is well known that he is a prolific liar who released this lie to serve opportunistic electoral purposes."

In a statement, the UAE foreign ministry said 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".

It called on media outlets "to exercise accuracy and professionalism, and to refrain from circulating unverified information or promoting misleading political narratives". 

Both Israeli and Arab sources told Middle East Eye that the meeting between Netanyahu and Mohammed bin Zayed took place on 26 March in Al-Ain, an oasis city on the Oman border. 

On 27 March, the day after the meeting, Avi Scharf, the open-source intelligence and national security editor of Haaretz, posted on social media that “two Israeli bizjets sometimes used for special VVIP flights” had landed in Al-Ain and flown back to Israel four hours later, on the evening of 26 March.

Further flight tracking confirmed that two business jets had flown from Tel Aviv to Al-Ain, departing the Israeli city in the afternoon and returning that night.

The UAE was the first Gulf state to sign the Abraham Accords with Israel in 2020, under the first Trump administration, and shares many joint military and intelligence projects with Israel and the US.

Since 28 February, the US-Israeli war on Iran has bound the UAE and Israel even closer together, while also straining relations.

Iron Dome in UAE

The UAE has so far not denied that Israel sent Iron Dome air defence batteries, along with soldiers to operate them, to the UAE amid the war on Iran, as US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee confirmed on Tuesday in an interview.

"Israel just sent them - [the UAE] - Iron Dome batteries and personnel to help them operate them. How come? Because there’s an extraordinary relationship between the UAE and Israel based on the Abraham Accords," Huckabee said at an event in Tel Aviv, referring to the 2020 agreement under which the UAE established diplomatic relations with Israel.

Axios reported last month that Israel sent an Iron Dome air defence system to the Gulf state, along with personnel to operate it. The Financial Times later reported that Israel also sent its Iron Beam laser defence system to the UAE to defend against Iranian drones and missiles.

After the US and Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran in February, Tehran responded by firing rockets and drones at Israeli and US targets across the region.

The UAE was among the most heavily targeted, with authorities saying that Iran launched around 550 ballistic and cruise missiles and more than 2,200 drones at the country. 

But Iran also caused material damage. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said on Tuesday that the UAE’s main natural gas plant would only return to full capacity next year after being targeted twice by Iran. The Habshan processing facility is only operating at about 60 percent capacity, with plans to return to full capacity in 2027.

The Gulf states opposed the US war on Iran, but when the fighting started, they generally stood by the US, which is their main security partner. While Saudi Arabia has helped the US wage war on Iran by providing enhanced access, basing, and overflights, it has also backed mediation efforts by its close partner, Pakistan.