Netanyahu held secret meeting in UAE with Mohammed bin Zayed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Sunday with United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed in an undisclosed visit to Abu Dhabi, Channel 12's Yaron Avraham reported.

Netanyahu departed in a private aircraft Sunday morning and spent the day in the Emirates, according to the evening report.

Two sources confirmed that the prime minister traveled to Abu Dhabi and met with the Emirati president, in a visit taking place against the backdrop of political turmoil in Israel over claims that Netanyahu received a warning before the October 7 attacks.

The Prime Minister's Office declined to provide details about the meeting or the content of the discussions between the two leaders. The visit comes in the midst of Israel's election campaign, with security and policy issues taking center stage in the political contests.

The undisclosed visit follows reports published in Haaretz claiming that the UAE president called the prime minister ten days before the October 7, 2023 terror attack and warned him of a large-scale plot. Netanyahu forcefully denied the report, while an official Emirati source told the Emirati newspaper The National that "the UAE discusses security matters with other countries through the relevant bodies, and does not discuss such details at the level of heads of state."

The meeting between Netanyahu and bin Zayed takes place just two weeks after the prime minister's address to the UN General Assembly in New York, where he met with several foreign leaders, including Argentine President Javier Milei.

Israel-UAE relations have strengthened in recent years following the Abraham Accords, and the two countries maintain close cooperation in security, economic and diplomatic spheres. However, today's secret visit raises questions about the nature of the discussions held between the two leaders and their implications for the regional arena.