Israel security agency files complaint over report Netanyahu visited UAE

Israel’s domestic security service filed a complaint against a TV channel that reported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the UAE, his office said on Monday, the government’s first acknowledgement of the trip despite not naming the destination.

“This evening the Shin Bet filed a complaint with the Chief Military Censor, demanding that Channel 12 be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law following a severe censorship violation,” read a statement from Netanyahu’s office, which oversees the security agency.

On Sunday, Channel 12 and other Israeli media outlets reported that Netanyahu had visited the Gulf country to meet with President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Neither country has confirmed Netanyahu visited the UAE, with Monday’s statement the first acknowledgement of any kind by Israel.

The visit came weeks after a bombshell Israeli media report that the Emirati president had warned Netanyahu ahead of Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which the Israeli premier did not pass on to the security services.

Netanyahu has denied the story.

According to Israeli media, Netanyahu flew to the UAE on Sunday to ask Sheikh Mohamed to deny having given him that warning in 2023.

The publication of his visit “endangered the lives of the prime minister and his wife, as well as the delegation, which included the head of the Mossad” spy agency and other top security officials, the PM’s office said in its statement.

The visit was made public when the premier’s plane was still outside Israeli airspace, it noted.

Mossad, which also operates under the prime minister’s office, issued a similar condemnation, according to the statement.

Israel and the UAE formally established diplomatic relations in 2020 as part of the US-negotiated Abraham Accords.