In a telling report, the Israeli daily Israel Hayom revealed an unusual incident outside the United Arab Emirates’ embassy in Tel Aviv. One morning, an Israeli police officer knocked on the embassy’s door and demanded that the guard immediately lower the flag flying over the building—mistakenly believing it to be a Palestinian flag. The confusion arose from the shared colours of red, black, white, and green.
The newspaper commented that “perhaps the officer thought all Arabs are the same, but they are not. In reality, aside from Trump’s Washington, Israel has no braver friend than Abu Dhabi.”
UAE–Israel Relations: From Cold Peace to Full Embrace
The article went on to highlight how, after decades of what it described as “cold and hostile peace” with Egypt and Jordan, the UAE has entered into what Israel calls a “true peace” with both the Israeli state and its society. Unlike other Arab states, the United Nations, and even many European countries, the paper praised Abu Dhabi for expressing “unconditional dismay” over the events of October 7. It further underlined that the UAE openly declared its support for Israel’s campaign to “eliminate Hamas once and for all.”
According to Israel Hayom, “the ruler of the UAE sent his soldiers into six wars against the Muslim Brotherhood, unlike Qatar, which funded them. They understood the danger of this so-called ‘demonic movement’ long before the Israelis did.”
Shared Front Against Iran – and Ignoring Palestine
The paper added that the common ground between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi lies in their shared hostility toward Iran and its allies. This, it argued, is the reason FlyDubai continues to operate flights into Israel even as other foreign airlines suspended theirs. It also reflected Israel’s view that the UAE “does not concern itself with the Palestinian cause,” despite ongoing demands from the wider Muslim street.
The article further noted, “When friends speak, they must be heard.” Abu Dhabi’s statements, it said, reveal growing concern over Israeli plans for annexation—not out of sympathy for the Palestinian Authority, which the UAE reportedly sees as corrupt, but because such a move may appear meaningless from Abu Dhabi’s perspective.
UAE’s Reprimand to Israel
Despite this narrative of closeness, tensions have flared. The Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strong statement on Friday after an unprecedented Israeli attack in Qatar that targeted senior figures of the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas.
Minister of State for International Cooperation, Reem al-Hashimy, summoned Israel’s Deputy Ambassador David Hursandi, delivering a sharp message of condemnation. The UAE denounced what it described as a “flagrant and cowardly assault” on the territory of its sister state, Qatar, as well as the “aggressive statements” issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Just a day earlier, the UAE’s Foreign Ministry declared that “any attack on a member state of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is considered an attack on the entire GCC security system.”
Normalisation and Its Contradictions
The UAE, alongside Bahrain, became the first Gulf states to normalise relations with Israel under the 2020 Abraham Accords. While Israeli media celebrate this as a “true peace,” the contradictions are increasingly clear: Abu Dhabi’s government attempts to balance its alignment with Israel against its regional ties and the expectations of the Muslim world.
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