The United Arab Emirates has denied a claim that Benjamin Netanyahu paid a secret visit to the Gulf state in the midst of the US-Israeli war against Iran, in an extraordinary rebuttal from Israel’s closest Arab partner.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said earlier that Netanyahu met the UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and “secretly” visited the Arab state. It said that the trip — which would be Netanyahu’s first known visit to the UAE — “resulted in a historic breakthrough in relations” between the two countries.
But the UAE’s foreign ministry later issued a statement strongly denying the reports of an “alleged” visit by Netanyahu, or “receiving any Israeli military delegation in the country”.