A report aired Sunday on Israel’s N12 News claims the Prime Minister’s Office made the unusual decision to publicly confirm Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s previously secret wartime visit to the United Arab Emirates out of concern that former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was also preparing to visit Abu Dhabi.
According to the report, Netanyahu’s office feared that if Bennett’s trip became public while Netanyahu’s own wartime meeting with Emirati leaders remained classified, it would create the impression that Bennett was welcomed openly by the UAE while Netanyahu was not.
Last Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that Netanyahu had traveled to the UAE during the opening days of Operation Roaring Lion and met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in what it described as a “historic breakthrough” in relations between the two countries.
The announcement quickly triggered an unusually sharp denial from the UAE Foreign Ministry, which said no such visit by Netanyahu or Israeli military officials had taken place and stressed that UAE-Israel relations under the Abraham Accords are conducted openly — “not based on secrecy or clandestine arrangements.”
N12 reported that Abu Dhabi had specifically requested that the meeting remain confidential and that the Israeli disclosure sparked significant diplomatic anger within the Emirati leadership.
According to two sources cited in the report, Bennett was expected to travel to the UAE for meetings with bin Zayed and other senior Emirati officials. Netanyahu, the report claims, did not want Bennett appearing publicly in Abu Dhabi while his own diplomatic engagement remained hidden from view.
The tensions come as concerns grow over the stability of the U.S.-brokered regional alliance against Iran amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Tehran.
“The stakes are high,” Middle East Institute analyst Natan Sachs told Fox News Digital.
“I imagine the Israelis are working overtime to mend relations with the UAE, but it is too early to tell,” he said.
The UAE’s Foreign Ministry reiterated in its statement that any claims regarding undisclosed visits or arrangements are “baseless unless issued by the relevant official authorities in the UAE.”
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