Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Wednesday that he had made a secretive visit to the United Arab Emirates and met with its leader, President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, during the US-Israeli war with Iran earlier this year.

The meeting resulted in a “historic breakthrough” in relations between Israel and Abu Dhabi, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

The announcement was the latest sign of increased cooperation between the two countries during the war, after reports on Wednesday said that the heads of Israel’s two main intelligence agencies had also made secret trips to the Gulf state to help it shore up its defensive and offensive capabilities in the face of Iranian missile and drone attacks.

A source familiar with the details said Netanyahu and bin Zayed met in Al-Ain, in an oasis city by the Oman border, on March 26, and that their meeting lasted several hours.

There was no immediate comment on the reported visit from the UAE.

It was the first confirmed trip that Netanyahu has made to the UAE since normalizing relations with Abu Dhabi in the 2020 Abraham Accords, as previous hoped-for visits failed to materialize.

His office had initially announced a trip to Abu Dhabi days after he began his sixth term as prime minister in December 2022, but it was cancelled by the UAE amid anger over National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s visit to the flashpoint Temple Mount.

At the time, a senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel that the........

© The Times of Israel