Amid the fog of the Iran conflict, some serious geopolitical chess moves were happening in the shadows, with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu having slipped behind what were once enemy lines, into the the quarters of UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, for a clandestine summit which could help realign the region.
"This visit has led to a historic breakthrough in relations between Israel and the UAE," Netanyahu's office confirmed in a Wednesday statement.
It provides top level confirmation of a new CBS report, which revealed that "Netanyahu made a secret visit to the United Arab Emirates recently, where he met with Mohammed bin Zayed, the country's president."
The clandestine meeting occurred in late March, and out of that grew out of the Abraham Accords, given UAE was the first to sign onto normalization with Israel back in 2020. Strangely, later in the day Wednesday, the UAE Foreign Ministry denied the trip ever took place.
It was also revealed this week Israel actually deployed its prized Iron Dome batteries and IDF personnel directly onto UAE soil during the conflict to defend against the significant Iranian attacks.
But the diplomacy didn't stop with the heads of state. Intelligence sources indicate that Mossad chief David Barnea has been a frequent flier to the UAE, making at least two trips during the heat of the Iran war to synchronize "military operations" - a move first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee "There’s an extraordinary relationship between the UAE and Israel." This developing realignment means that the defense of the Gulf is now inextricably linked to Israeli tech and intelligence.
"I'd like to say a word of appreciation for United Arab Emirates, the first Abraham accord member," Huckabee said at a Tel Aviv Conference this week. "Just look at the benefits. Israel just sent them Iron Dome batteries and personnel to help operate them."
"The Gulf states now understood they will have to make a choice - is it more likely they will be attacked by Iran or Israel?" Huckabee posed before the Israeli audience. "They see that Israel helped us and Iran attacked us. Israel is not trying to take over your land, and is not sending missiles to you."
So clearly there is a coordinated effort to finally make public very sensitive information - that for the first known time in history Israel is directly transferring weapons to a Gulf Arab state, while its head of state is making personal secret drop-ins for direct face time.
Even long before the current Iran conflict, there was a growing covert relationship between Israel and some Gulf states going back to the early phase of the Syrian proxy war, in the last decade.
Israel and the Sunni autocrats conspired to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, a longtime key ally of Iran, and they cooperated on funding and supplying anti-Damascus jihadi insurgents. Out of this shadow war came a greater mutual understanding.