UAE Confirms Netanyahu Visit, Statement Omits Regional Wars

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has officially acknowledged hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks with Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed, according to a statement from the Emirates News Agency late Monday, Sept. 28.

The acknowledgment marks the first such confirmation since the UAE established diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 [1]. The Emirates News Agency said bin Zayed "discussed with the Israeli prime minister the bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to strengthen and develop them" [2].

The UAE released no official photograph of the meeting that took place on Sunday, Sept. 27, and its statement made no mention of the regional wars in which Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv are involved – including those in occupied Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Yemen and Sudan [1]. The official confirmation followed days of reports in Israeli media that Netanyahu had made an unannounced visit to the Gulf state.

Israeli media, including Channel 2 and Kan, as well as the newspapers Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post, reported Sunday that Netanyahu had undertaken a one-day visit to meet with bin Zayed [3]. The meeting also made the front pages of the UAE's state-owned Al-Bayan and Al-Ittihad newspapers, which reprinted the official statement without additional commentary [1

https://tinyurl.com/2hvytzfk