Yedioth Ahronoth:
TEL AVIV (Kayhan Intl.) – The occupying regime of Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited Abu Dhabi to meet the UAE’s crown prince two years before their recent deal, Zionist daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Tuesday.
According to the newspaper’s diplomatic sources, the 2018 meeting with Muhammad bin Zayed was also attended by the head of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, Yossi Cohen.
Netanyahu has long hinted at secret ties with Arab countries and did the same again on Monday in a speech celebrating a summit in Abu Dhabi that carried the U.S.-Israeli delegation on the first official commercial flight between the two regimes.
"There are many things that I cannot yet tell you about, but I believe that in time they will come to light. But you can see the changes for yourselves - some of them, the tip of the iceberg, you have seen them in recent years,” said Netanyahu.
The Zionist premier said he had invited a UAE delegation to visit Occupied Palestine, where "we will give them a red carpet welcome just like they welcomed us”.
He also listed his recent meetings with leaders of Oman, Chad and Sudan.
Monday’s flight received permission from Riyadh to pass over Saudi Arabia, which has also been seen to be opening up relations with the occupying regime of Israel.
This week’s summit cemented the newly official diplomatic relations between the UAE and the Zionist regime and was attended by White House adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Kushner visited a UAE air base Tuesday where the U.S. operates F-35 fighter jets coveted by Abu
Dhabi -- the thorniest issue in the newly established ties.
Israel has denied reports that the deal hinges on the sale of U.S. F-35 stealth fighter jets to the UAE, with Netanyahu saying he opposes a move that could reduce its alleged strategic edge in the region.
Kushner said Monday that the U.S. could maintain that edge "while also advancing our military relationship with the United Arab Emirates”.
Major General Falah Al Qahtani, assistant undersecretary at the defense ministry, cast the UAE as a reliable partner in a dangerous region, as he welcomed Kushner and U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien to the Al Dhafra air base.
"Our relationship is based on a common view on the threat to our common interests. We are friends. We are strategic partners. We are alike,” he said.
Qahtani, speaking at the air base which the U.S. uses for joint training purposes, listed its arsenal of military hardware, including Apache helicopters and the F-16 fighter jet, but unmentioned was the F-35, long coveted by Persian Gulf littoral states including the UAE.
The U.S. military deployed the F-35 at Al Dhafra in 2019, in the first Middle East basing for the jet.
Ever since the 1960s, the United States has guaranteed to maintain what it claims as the occupying regime of Israel’s "qualitative military edge” in the region.
The policy was enhanced two years ago with a law that Washington must ensure, when selling weapons to another country in the Middle East, that the Zionist regime retains the ability to overpower its adversary if the arms were to fall into the wrong hands.
A wrangle over the jet, which could upset the balance of power in the region, could be the first hiccup in the Israel-UAE accord. The Zionist regime has already received a first consignment of the jets and Netanyahu has made clear his opposition to the UAE being next in line.
"This deal did not include Israel’s acceptance of any arms deal,” he said last week.
The two regimes agreed on Tuesday to set up a joint committee on financial services cooperation with the aim of promoting investment between them, an Israeli statement said.
While the Emirates has claimed that the deal was predicated on Israel freezing its plan to annex large swathes of the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu has publicly said that annexation was still on the table.
News of the normalization agreement on August 13 was denounced by Palestinians as tantamount to "treason” and effectively giving the Zionist reghime the green light to continue its occupation and annexation of Palestinian lands unabated.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh denounced the flight on Monday.
"It is very painful to see today the landing of an Israeli plane in the United Arab Emirates in a clear violation of the Arab stance on the Arab-Israeli conflict,” PA news agency Wafa quoted him as saying.
According to the newspaper’s diplomatic sources, the 2018 meeting with Muhammad bin Zayed was also attended by the head of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, Yossi Cohen.
Netanyahu has long hinted at secret ties with Arab countries and did the same again on Monday in a speech celebrating a summit in Abu Dhabi that carried the U.S.-Israeli delegation on the first official commercial flight between the two regimes.
"There are many things that I cannot yet tell you about, but I believe that in time they will come to light. But you can see the changes for yourselves - some of them, the tip of the iceberg, you have seen them in recent years,” said Netanyahu.
The Zionist premier said he had invited a UAE delegation to visit Occupied Palestine, where "we will give them a red carpet welcome just like they welcomed us”.
He also listed his recent meetings with leaders of Oman, Chad and Sudan.
Monday’s flight received permission from Riyadh to pass over Saudi Arabia, which has also been seen to be opening up relations with the occupying regime of Israel.
This week’s summit cemented the newly official diplomatic relations between the UAE and the Zionist regime and was attended by White House adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Kushner visited a UAE air base Tuesday where the U.S. operates F-35 fighter jets coveted by Abu
Dhabi -- the thorniest issue in the newly established ties.
Israel has denied reports that the deal hinges on the sale of U.S. F-35 stealth fighter jets to the UAE, with Netanyahu saying he opposes a move that could reduce its alleged strategic edge in the region.
Kushner said Monday that the U.S. could maintain that edge "while also advancing our military relationship with the United Arab Emirates”.
Major General Falah Al Qahtani, assistant undersecretary at the defense ministry, cast the UAE as a reliable partner in a dangerous region, as he welcomed Kushner and U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien to the Al Dhafra air base.
"Our relationship is based on a common view on the threat to our common interests. We are friends. We are strategic partners. We are alike,” he said.
Qahtani, speaking at the air base which the U.S. uses for joint training purposes, listed its arsenal of military hardware, including Apache helicopters and the F-16 fighter jet, but unmentioned was the F-35, long coveted by Persian Gulf littoral states including the UAE.
The U.S. military deployed the F-35 at Al Dhafra in 2019, in the first Middle East basing for the jet.
Ever since the 1960s, the United States has guaranteed to maintain what it claims as the occupying regime of Israel’s "qualitative military edge” in the region.
The policy was enhanced two years ago with a law that Washington must ensure, when selling weapons to another country in the Middle East, that the Zionist regime retains the ability to overpower its adversary if the arms were to fall into the wrong hands.
A wrangle over the jet, which could upset the balance of power in the region, could be the first hiccup in the Israel-UAE accord. The Zionist regime has already received a first consignment of the jets and Netanyahu has made clear his opposition to the UAE being next in line.
"This deal did not include Israel’s acceptance of any arms deal,” he said last week.
The two regimes agreed on Tuesday to set up a joint committee on financial services cooperation with the aim of promoting investment between them, an Israeli statement said.
While the Emirates has claimed that the deal was predicated on Israel freezing its plan to annex large swathes of the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu has publicly said that annexation was still on the table.
News of the normalization agreement on August 13 was denounced by Palestinians as tantamount to "treason” and effectively giving the Zionist reghime the green light to continue its occupation and annexation of Palestinian lands unabated.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh denounced the flight on Monday.
"It is very painful to see today the landing of an Israeli plane in the United Arab Emirates in a clear violation of the Arab stance on the Arab-Israeli conflict,” PA news agency Wafa quoted him as saying.
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