Israel security service complains over report on Netanyahu’s UAE visit

Israel’s domestic security service has filed a complaint against Channel 12 over its report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the United Arab Emirates, in the government’s first acknowledgement of the trip without initially naming its destination. Netanyahu’s office said on Monday that the Shin Bet had asked the chief military censor to prosecute the channel to the fullest extent of the law over what it described as a serious breach of censorship rules. The office said the disclosure endangered the prime minister, his wife and members of the delegation.

The delegation reportedly included the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency and other senior security officials. Netanyahu’s office said the visit became public while the prime minister’s aircraft was still outside Israeli airspace. Mossad issued a similar condemnation, according to the statement.

Israeli media, including Channel 12, reported on Sunday that Netanyahu had travelled to the Gulf country to meet Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the UAE president. Abu Dhabi confirmed the trip and meeting late on Monday through the official news agency WAM. WAM said the two leaders discussed bilateral relations between the UAE and Israel and ways to strengthen and develop them.

The report did not provide further details of the discussions. The visit followed an Israeli media report alleging that Sheikh Mohamed had warned Netanyahu before Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. The report said Netanyahu did not pass the warning to Israeli security services.

Netanyahu has denied the allegation. According to Israeli media reports cited in the material, Netanyahu travelled to the UAE to ask Sheikh Mohamed to deny that he had issued such a warning. The security complaint and the reported purpose of the visit have therefore connected the censorship dispute to continuing controversy over events preceding the 2023 attack.

Israel and the UAE established diplomatic relations in 2020 under the United States-negotiated Abraham Accords. The UAE’s confirmation of the meeting publicly identified the destination that Netanyahu’s office had initially left unnamed.