Inside Netanyahu’s relentless push for meeting with UAE’s MBZ
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu managed to persuade the Emiratis to receive him a month before Israel’s elections, but like other Arab capitals, Abu Dhabi is also in contact with his political rivals.
TEL AVIV — The relentless pressure exerted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to arrange a meeting with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed eventually paid off with a visit to Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Still, with Israeli elections approaching on Oct. 27, the Emiratis are simultaneously seeking to engage with Netanyahu’s political rivals, high-level Israeli sources told Al-Monitor.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed hard for a meeting with a reluctant Emirati leader, the sources told Al-Monitor.
The visit was initially kept secret and only publicly acknowledged after Israeli media reported it. The Emiratis received Netanyahu at the airport, there was no press conference, offered no photo opportunity and issued no joint statement on the nearly 4-hour encounter. Netanyahu, the sources said, had a strong interest in making the meeting public. He was accompanied by Mossad chief Roman Goffman, national security adviser Shmuel Ben Ezra, military secretary Guy Markizeno, the head of the Shin Bet's security division and the premier's wife, Sara Netanyahu.
In May, Netanyahu revealed that he had traveled to the UAE and met Sheikh Mohamed, but the Emirati Foreign Ministry denied that such meeting had taken place.
