Senior political officials say that the UAE is now Israel's closest friend among the Gulf states, and an example of the success of the normalization process between Israel and the Arab states.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced on May 13 that during the war against Iran, Netanyahu secretly visited the UAE and met with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. Abu Dhabi officially denied the visit, but the same officials believe that the denial stems from fears of a response from Iran and extremist elements in the Arab world.
According to them, Netanyahu's visit revealed an unprecedented level of political and security coordination between the two countries, and the meeting led to a "historic breakthrough" in relations between the countries.
According to Western intelligence sources, cooperation between Israel and the United Arab Emirates has become closer than ever in the past year, to the point of creating an unofficial regional security axis that includes Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.