UAE Echoes Israeli Talking Points on Key Arab Issues

In recent years, the UAE’s political stances have shifted from Western alignment to full ideological synchronisation with Israel. On nearly every critical Arab issue, Abu Dhabi now speaks with an unmistakably Israeli tongue.

The most recent example came in a televised interview with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, who told Fox News:

“It’s too early to use the word trust regarding Syria’s legitimate president; we must examine their messages first.”

This wasn’t a casual remark — it was a near-verbatim repetition of Israeli rhetoric, void of any Arab framing, national unity concerns, or humanitarian reflection on Syria’s ongoing tragedy.

The Syrian Question: Whose Security Matters?

Prior to Abdullah bin Zayed’s comments, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated:

“The Syrian regime cannot be trusted unless it commits to the Abraham Accords and ensures Israel’s security.”

Days later, the UAE repeated the same line, with zero mention of Arab interests, Syrian reconstruction, refugee return, or national sovereignty.

No word on the suffering of the Syrian people. No nod to Syria’s historical role or its decade-long humanitarian crisis. Instead, Abu Dhabi asked: Can Syria guarantee Israel’s safety?

Why would the UAE withhold “trust” from a fellow Arab state unless it complies with Tel Aviv’s criteria? Especially when Saudi Arabia has moved toward normalisation with Damascus, why does the UAE insist on a tone harsher than Israel’s?

This isn’t about Syria. It’s about Abu Dhabi’s redefined position — now aligned with a regional axis that measures legitimacy by Zionist standards, not Arab belonging.

On Gaza: Language Lifted from Israeli Intelligence

The UAE’s stance on Gaza is no different — firmly echoing the Israeli security agenda. While Israel bombs civilians, enforces a 17-year siege, and commits daily atrocities, Abu Dhabi has positioned itself as a leading voice calling for the disarmament of the resistance and the handover of Gaza to a “moderate authority.”

These terms — “disarmament,” “moderation,” and “post-war reconstruction” — are all pulled directly from the Israeli security doctrine. UAE media outlets have promoted deals that link aid to demilitarisation, a policy copy-pasted from Israel’s Ministry of Defense.

What’s entirely absent from the UAE’s official statements is any demand for:

• • Ending the occupation

• • Halting illegal settlements

• • Prosecuting Israeli war crimes

Instead of defending Gaza, the UAE has become a regional spokesperson for its pacification — presenting surrender as a path to peace.

But to call for disarming the oppressed while ignoring the oppressor’s weapons is not peacebuilding — it’s normalised capitulation.

Silence on War Crimes, Focus on Captives

Perhaps most disturbing is the UAE’s complete silence on Israel’s crimes in Gaza.

Thousands of martyrs, wounded children, entire families buried under rubble, bombed hospitals and razed homes — none of these are mentioned in the UAE’s official discourse.

What is mentioned? The need to release Israeli captives.

This calculated silence reflects a moral collapse: valuing Israeli loss above Arab blood. It exposes Abu Dhabi as an unfit mediator in any future regional negotiation — not a neutral actor, but an invested participant in the occupation’s narrative.

Conditional Messages, Selective Normalisation

In diplomatic backchannels, it’s been reported that full UAE normalisation with Syria is contingent on Damascus signing a peace deal with Israel — a message reportedly conveyed to the Emiratis by Donald Trump during private briefings.

This conditionality reveals how Abu Dhabi no longer sees Damascus as an Arab capital but as a geopolitical checkbox to be ticked by Israeli standards.

The same logic applies to Lebanon. The UAE has taken up an active role in supporting efforts to weaken Hezbollah, including funding media operations aimed at demonising the group both locally and abroad — a campaign indistinguishable from Tel Aviv’s strategy.

A Strategic Crossroads

What we’re witnessing is not a diplomatic misstep — it’s a strategic repositioning. The UAE is gradually transforming into an Israeli proxy wrapped in Arab clothing — legitimising occupation, undermining resistance, and disrupting what remains of the Arab consensus on Palestine.

Abu Dhabi now faces a binary choice:

• • Return to the Arab fold and re-centre its foreign policy around justice, dignity, and Palestine.

• • Or remain an instrument of Zionist power, weaponising Arab disunity for regional dominance.