Israel talks about secret visit by chief of staff to UAE

The Israel Broadcasting Corporation  claimed on Friday that the Chief of Staff of the Israeli occupation army, Eyal Zamir, visited the UAE "secretly" during the period of the war on Iran.

This came two days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office claimed that he had "secretly visited the UAE and met with its President Mohammed bin Zayed" during the war on Iran, which sparked Emirati criticism.

In a statement published at the time, the UAE Foreign Ministry denied "the validity of what is being circulated about Netanyahu's visit to the country, or the reception of any Israeli military delegation on its territory."

The official broadcaster said on Friday: "Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir visited the UAE during the war with Iran, where he met with senior Emirati officials, including UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as local security officials."

It claimed that the visit was part of "a series of visits by high-ranking Israeli officials to the UAE during the period of the war with Iran."

Mossad chief secretly visits Abu Dhabi

Earlier, Israeli media claimed that Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet chief David Zinni secretly visited the UAE, without specifying the date of the visits.

The UAE did not comment on these new allegations, while on Wednesday, according to a statement from its Foreign Ministry, it confirmed that "its relations with Israel are public, established within the framework of the well-known Abraham Accords announced in 2020, and are not based on secrecy or hidden arrangements."

"Any allegations of unannounced visits or arrangements are baseless unless they are issued by the competent official authorities in the UAE," it said, calling for "not to circulate undocumented information or use it to create political impressions."

In mid-September 2020, Tel Aviv, the UAE, and Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords at the White House in Washington to normalize relations under the auspices of the United States.