New details have emerged about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's secret visit to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday. Israel Hayom has learned that Mossad Director Roman Gofman, National Security Council head and National Security Adviser Shmuel Ben Ezra, a senior official from the Shin Bet security agency's VIP Protection Unit and senior members of Netanyahu's office accompanied him on the six-hour visit.
During the visit, Netanyahu met with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with news of the meeting first reported Sunday by Israel's Channel 12. Netanyahu flew to Abu Dhabi aboard a private jet previously linked to trips to the UAE by senior Mossad officials and by Netanyahu himself.
The meeting had been arranged in recent weeks and was supposed to remain secret until the delegation landed back in Israel, at which point the two countries were to issue a coordinated statement. However, the trip was disclosed in Israel before the Israeli delegation returned home, and as of Monday morning the UAE had yet to issue any statement acknowledging that the meeting took place.
The visit came against the backdrop of a Haaretz report by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval claiming that bin Zayed called Netanyahu about 10 days before Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 massacre and warned him that Hamas was considering launching a major attack.
