Israel's Netanyahu visited Abu Dhabi on Sunday, Israeli official says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Abu Dhabi and met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Sunday, a ‌senior Israeli official told Reuters.

There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu's office and the UAE's foreign ministry.

The visit comes after Israeli newspaper Haaretz this month reported that Sheikh Mohamed had warned Netanyahu a week and a half before October 7, 2023 that Hamas was planning a major operation against Israel. The warning ⁠was not passed to Israeli intelligence agencies or the military, Haaretz reported.

Netanyahu, who has denied the report and threatened legal action against the newspaper, is facing a tough reelection campaign. Opposition leaders have accused the prime minister of bearing responsibility for security failures that preceded Hamas' October 7 attack.

The UAE has declined to comment on the Haaretz report but has said that UAE and Israel have maintained "open and direct lines of communication" since establishing diplomatic relations in 2020. A UAE source previously told Reuters ‌that ⁠the UAE discusses security matters with countries through the "relevant entities," but not "at the level of national leaders."

Reuters