Netanyahu made a secret visit to the UAE on Sunday, source says

Amir Levy/Getty Images

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited the United Arab Emirates on Sunday and met with the country’s president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, an Israeli source familiar with the visit told CNN.

The source said Iran dominated the agenda, an arena where the two countries have deepened their cooperation, including during the current Iran war.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not confirm the visit. CNN reached out to the UAE foreign ministry for comment.

The rare trip, if confirmed, comes exactly one month before Israel’s October 27 election and against the backdrop of heightened political controversy in Israel over reporting by Haaretz and The New York Times alleging that Bin Zayed had warned Netanyahu of a major Hamas operation days before the October 7, 2023, attack.

The Atlantic separately reported that Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel flew to Israel on September 26, 2023, to warn that Gaza would “blow up.” And on Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that there were at least three Egyptian warnings conveyed to Israel about Gaza, the last one in a phone call to Netanyahu, just days before the attack.

Netanyahu’s office has repeatedly denied receiving any warning and has dismissed the reports as fabricated lies aimed at damaging him electorally. But his rivals have used the allegations to make accountability for the failure to prevent the October 7, 2023, attack a central campaign issue.

After initial reports of a warning from Bin Zayed , the UAE’s Foreign Ministry said earlier this month that it “does not comment on media stories or speculation regarding conversations between government leaders,” but it did not deny the call. “When necessary, all relevant intelligence has been and continues to be communicated between the relevant entities,” the statement said.

At the time, an Israeli source familiar with the matter said Netanyahu’s office tried to get the UAE to deny the report, but the UAE only agreed to issue a statement about intelligence sharing.

Netanyahu’s Likud party subsequently issued a statement, posted on the prime minister’s X account, alleging “blatant foreign interference” in Israel’s elections by UAE-based Palestinian politician Mohammed Dahlan. The party provided no evidence for the claim.

Netanyahu’s rivals, meanwhile, have seized on the reported warning to renew their attacks on his handling of the events preceding October 7.

Gadi Eizenkot, currently polling as the prime minister’s main challenger in Israel’s upcoming elections, said Saturday that the revelation about the warning “leaves no room for doubt: Netanyahu led, with blindness, arrogance and irresponsibility, the State of Israel to the greatest disaster in its history.”

In May, Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister had secretly visited the UAE in March, during the early days of the Iran war, calling it a “historic breakthrough.” The UAE foreign ministry, however, denied his claim at the time as “completely unfounded.”

During the war, Israel is also said to have deployed an Iron Dome missile defense system to the UAE and Israeli officials have said security cooperation between the two countries reached unprecedented levels.

Netanyahu has never made a publicly acknowledged official visit to the UAE.

Amir Levy/Getty Images

据一位熟悉此次访问的以色列消息人士向 CNN 透露，以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡于周日秘密访问了阿拉伯联合酋长国，并会见了该国总统谢赫·穆罕默德·本·扎耶德。

消息人士称，伊朗问题占据了议程的主导地位，而伊朗问题正是两国深化合作的领域，包括在当前的伊朗战争期间。

以色列总理办公室未证实此次访问。CNN已联系阿联酋外交部寻求置评。

如果得到证实，这次罕见的访问恰好在以色列 10 月 27 日大选前一个月，而此时以色列正因《国土报》和《纽约时报》的报道而引发激烈的政治争议，报道称本·扎耶德在 2023 年 10 月 7 日袭击事件发生前几天曾警告内塔尼亚胡哈马斯将发动一次重大行动。

《大西洋月刊》另行报道称，埃及情报局长阿巴斯·卡迈勒于2023年9月26日飞往以色列，警告称加沙地带将“爆炸”。而《华尔街日报》周日报道称，埃及至少三次向以色列发出关于加沙的警告，最后一次是在袭击发生前几天，埃及官员致电内塔尼亚胡发出警告。

内塔尼亚胡办公室一再否认收到任何警告，并驳斥这些报道是旨在损害其选举利益的捏造谎言。但他的竞争对手利用这些指控，将未能阻止2023年10月7日袭击事件的责任追究作为竞选的核心议题。

在最初有报道称本·扎耶德发出警告后，阿联酋外交部本月初表示，“不对有关政府领导人之间通话的媒体报道或猜测发表评论”，但并未否认通话内容。声明称，“如有必要，所有相关情报已在并将继续在相关机构之间进行沟通。”

当时，一位熟悉此事的以色列消息人士称，内塔尼亚胡办公室曾试图让阿联酋否认该报道，但阿联酋只同意发表一份关于情报共享的声明。

内塔尼亚胡领导的利库德集团随后在其总理的X账号上发表声明，指责居住在阿联酋的巴勒斯坦政治人物穆罕默德·达赫兰“公然干涉”以色列选举。该党并未提供任何证据支持这一说法。

与此同时，内塔尼亚胡的对手们抓住这一报道中的警告，再次抨击他对 10 月 7 日之前事件的处理方式。

加迪·艾森科特目前在以色列即将举行的选举中是总理的主要挑战者，他周六表示，有关警告的披露“毫无疑问：内塔尼亚胡盲目、傲慢和不负责任地将以色列国带入了历史上最大的灾难”。

今年5月，内塔尼亚胡办公室称，总理在3月伊朗战争初期曾秘密访问阿联酋，并称之为“历史性突破”。然而，阿联酋外交部当时否认了这一说法，称其“完全没有根据”。

战争期间，以色列据称还向阿联酋部署了“铁穹”导弹防御系统，以色列官员表示，两国之间的安全合作达到了前所未有的水平。

内塔尼亚胡从未公开承认对阿联酋进行过正式访问。