The UAE suspended plans for a summit in Abu Dhabi with Israel, the US and the Arab states in protest at Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s attempts to use Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed (MBZ) as a mainstay in his election campaign. issue told me.
Why it matters: This is the first major crisis between the UAE and Israel since the announcement of normalization relations last August.
- The Emiratis are furious with Netanyahu for entangling them in internal Israeli politics.
Driving the news: Three weeks ago, Netanyahu spoke to MBZ on the phone and suggested holding a signing ceremony in Abu Dhabi of the Israel-Sudan diplomatic relations agreement.
- MBZ was open to this but wanted to bring Biden’s administration on board. US officials thought it was a good idea and agreed to send a high-ranking official to attend, but insisted that they didn’t want this until after the Israeli elections, sources familiar with the matter said.
- The plan was to hold the summit in early April, right after the elections. But Netanyahu wanted to visit Abu Dhabi before the elections.
- The emiratis knew he was only looking for a photo op, but didn’t want to create tension and agreed to receive him. His visit last week was postponed due to a crisis between Israel and Jordan.
- Netanyahu kept pushing for a new date for the visit, mentioning the UAE in almost every campaign meeting and interview. One of Netanyahu’s main points of discussion was that MBZ promised to invest $ 10 billion in Israel.
Between the lines: This was not entirely untrue. The issue came up between the two and the UAE did announce that they want to invest in Israel, but Netanyahu publicly presented it as if MBZ’s motive was to give him political support. The Emiratis did not appreciate it.
For the record: The last straw was an interview Netanyahu gave on Monday, in which he claimed that MBZ “voluntarily” invested $ 10 billion in Israel, according to US sources familiar with the matter. Netanyahu even claimed MBZ told him he believes in his economic leadership.
- The Emirates decided to take revenge. Their initial response was a statement by Industry Minister Sultan Jaber that investment in Israel was still in a very preparatory phase, and that such investments will be economically motivated and not based on politics.
- The second response was to make it clear to Netanyahu privately and publicly that he will not visit the UAE for the election. UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash, who was Secretary of State of State until a few weeks ago, tweeted that the UAE will “now or never participate in internal elections in Israel.”
- The third response was a decision to suspend the planned summit. The newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported for the first time about the decision of the Emirates. Sources familiar with the matter told me that the UAE informed the Biden administration that it was suspending the summit because of Netanyahu’s behavior.
What’s next: The summit will take place at some point, but only after the political situation in Israel is clarified and when Netanyahu, if he remains in office, will manage to ease Emirati anger, sources familiar with the matter say.