For most other countries, the answer would have been a resounding “no.” However, when the United Arab Emirates came under relentless Iranian attack during the US-Israel war against Tehran, Israel agreed to deploy one of its most secretive military systems.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after a phone call with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, quietly ordered the Israeli military to send the Iron Dome interceptor battery and the soldiers operating it to the UAE, a move that shows how far the relationship has gone.
At a time when the UAE is distancing itself from its traditional ally over its stance on the Iran war, Israel sees an unprecedented opportunity to further strengthen ties, multiple Israeli officials told CNN.
The UAE, which became the first Arab country in 26 years to normalize relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords in 2020, has said a war with Iran could reshape regional alliances, much to the dismay of some of its closest Arab neighbors. Instead, officials say it will bring Abu Dhabi closer to Israel and countries such as France, the United States and Britain, which supported Israel during the war.
“With limited positive developments in the Iran war, this relationship[with Abu Dhabi]stands out as ‘good news,'” an Israeli official familiar with relations with the UAE told CNN. “The relationship has advanced to a new level, including at the leadership level.”
In recent weeks, UAE officials and state commentators have made a rare public rebuke to the Arab nation for failing to step up when the country was in the brunt of Iranian attacks during Tehran’s retaliatory measures in the US-Israel war.
Anwar Gargash, advisor to the UAE president, told a conference in Dubai this week that the position of Gulf Arab monarchies was “the weakest in history”.
“It was expected from the Arab League, so it’s not a surprise,” Gargash said, referring to the 22-nation Arab coalition. “But I was surprised because I didn’t expect it from the Gulf (countries).”
“Israel’s influence in the Gulf will become more pronounced, not less,” Gargash said, stressing the need for ties between the two countries amid mounting criticism that Israel and the United States have drawn them into a war that most Gulf states oppose.
“Israel never imagined this closeness when it signed the Abraham Accords,” an Israeli diplomatic source told CNN, referring to deepening military ties.
Another Israeli official said: “This war has brought an unprecedented level of closeness and has been driven primarily by a sense of common destiny. Both countries are under attack and have a common enemy.” “This will definitely be reflected in the expansion of our relationship going forward.”
This week, the UAE withdrew from the OPEC oil cartel after nearly 60 years. Asked by CNN whether Saudi Arabia, the group’s de facto leader, had been consulted about the move, UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said it was a “sovereign state’s decision.”
Experts say the UAE felt constrained by the group and had been considering leaving for years, but chose to remain out of respect for Saudi Arabia.
Israeli officials interviewed by CNN said Abu Dhabi’s withdrawal from OPEC was evidence of a widening gap with Gulf states and a move toward closer cooperation between Israel and the United States.
“This moves the UAE away from its traditional Gulf policy and makes it completely different for the region and for Israel,” the official said, adding that the UAE “found itself isolated and Israel and the United States supported them.”
Israel’s secret deployment of its much-vaunted Iron Dome missile defense system to the UAE underscores the deepening ties between the two countries, an Israeli official familiar with the matter told CNN last week, corroborating the Axios report. The system was sent during the war with Iran, officials said.
This was an unprecedented Israeli military deployment in an Arab nation, and the first known instance of Israel stationing Iron Dome outside its borders, despite being under heavy Iranian fire inside the country. Israeli officials said the war had pushed security cooperation between the two countries to an unprecedented level.
A person familiar with UAE-Israel relations said Israel and the UAE share a common understanding that Islamic extremism is a major threat, adding that Israel “also supports the UAE in its tensions with Saudi Arabia over the Horn of Africa.”
Israel has previously concluded several arms deals to sell the Iron Dome system overseas, but this appears to be the first time it has been deployed and used operationally by another country. Axios reported that the system intercepted dozens of Iranian missiles during the war, citing Israeli officials.
According to two other sources, this was not the first time Israel provided air defense systems to the UAE. In 2022, after Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a missile at Abu Dhabi, killing three people (UAE officials at the time referred to the attack as the country’s 9/11), Israel transferred its Barak 8 air defense squadron to the country at the request of UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed to then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, sources said.
CNN has contacted the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the level of assistance Israel has provided to the UAE, including the Iron Dome battery. It is unclear whether the battery will remain in the UAE.
Yoel Guzansky, a senior fellow at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies and a former official at Israel’s National Security Council, said the UAE is now one of the countries in the world closest to Israel. “It’s not just about security. It’s about tourism, science, investment and trade. No other Arab country is this close,” he said, citing the UAE’s decision to keep its ambassador in Tel Aviv and its air routes open during the Gaza war. He added that it is likely Iran’s top target because of its closeness.
“In that sense, the UAE is paying a price for the relationship,” he said.
But the war also exposed the limits of support for Israel, which seeks to balance its own security needs with its desire to deepen ties with Gulf states. An Israeli security official told CNN that Israel was forced to decline a request from Abu Dhabi to build more Iron Dome batteries. “If one battery is deployed there, there will be one less battery needed for our country’s air defense,” the official said.
The source further added that the UAE is assisting Israel with signals intelligence. Signals intelligence is collected by intercepting and analyzing electronic signals (primarily communications and other emissions) from people, systems, and equipment.
Hours before the UAE announced its withdrawal from OPEC on Tuesday, Emirati social media outlets were buzzing with speculation that a major decision was imminent. An unscheduled meeting of Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia that day fueled rumors that Abu Dhabi was preparing to leave the Saudi-based Gulf Cooperation Council, a group of six Gulf states that did not materialize.
Since then, there has been speculation about whether the UAE could withdraw from other multilateral organizations, such as the Cairo-based Arab League and the Riyadh-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to which Abu Dhabi has been a member for decades.
Officials point out that the UAE had already become increasingly distanced from its Arab neighbors even before the war, and that the conflict has accelerated that sense of distance.
“The Emirates didn’t realize how big the region was becoming,” Tarek Alotaiba, a fellow on the Middle East Initiative at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, told CNN. He cited the country’s “complexity” and said it was more in line with Western and Asian countries than with his own neighbours. “It is logical to think that if the Emirates conducts an exercise to reassess relations, true allies and true focus will emerge.”
At this time, the UAE is not considering further withdrawal from multilateral institutions, an official told CNN on Wednesday. Abu Dhabi is reviewing “the relevance and usefulness of its roles and contributions” in some organizations, but is “not considering any withdrawal”, the official said.
