JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israeli prime minister Netanyahu secretly visited the UAE in 2018 to jumpstart the peace process with the Gulf state, according to a report by Yediot Aharonot Tuesday.
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Netanyahu and Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, who arranged the meeting, reportedly met with UAE crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed two years ago. Netanyahu hinted at a press conference Monday that he had conducted previous meetings with Arab leaders but said that the time had yet to come for these meetings to be made public.
A joint Israeli and US delegation made the first ever commercial flight from Israel to the UAE Monday in order to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries in the wake of the peace agreement. The Israeli delegation was headed by National Security Council director Meir Ben-Shabbat, who had previously held a meeting in Washington with UAE and US officials in 2019. Israeli ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer was also involved in the contacts with UAE officials.
The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the Yediot Aharonot report.