Why UAE Signed Deal with Israel

UAE and Israel: Uniting to Oppose Common Enemies

Introduction

Why has the UAE determined that now is a good time to formalize relations with Israel? One reason for the timing is that Iran has been growing its power and support network for years, backing groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, which the UAE sees as a threat to peace. The UAE does not support these groups and has condemned others, like the Muslim Brotherhood, for being corrupt and murderous. The UAE seeks to develop its state economically, establish a stable region that is good for trade and tourism, and put past grievances in their place. The key to moving forward and establishing a lasting peace in the Middle East is to develop win-win relationships with other states, and that is why it has determined to normalize its relationship with Israel. With Iran looking to develop nuclear capabilities, Hezbollah spreading its influence as far as Yemen, and Hamas still engaging in attacks on Israel while doing little to help the Palestinian people, the UAE has seen now as the time to turn a new page and work more closely with the one state that has been targeted by Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas for years—Israel.

Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood

The UAE and Israel have developed very close ties since celebrating the Abraham Accords in 2020. In 2021, they are looking to collaborate more closely still in order to safeguard themselves against their enemies in the region. Part of doing so depends upon each honoring the culture and legacy of the other. That is why “Israel’s top diplomat to the United Arab Emirates attended a ceremony in Dubai on the grounds of the Arabian Peninsula’s first permanent exhibition to commemorate the Holocaust. Hours earlier, he’d attended an event establishing a joint venture between an Israeli and Emirati company” (Batrawy, 2021). This sign of brotherhood and solidarity is all the more significant given that Israel and Hamas have been engaged in conflict recently and that the UAE, since formalizing relations with Israel has shown more support for its new partner than it has in the past. According to Israeli Ambassador Eitan Na’eh, “What we see here is the exact opposite of what we see in Gaza... What we see here in the whole normalization process is a departure from the past” (Batrawy, 2021).

The recent conflict between Hamas and Israel took place during Ramadan, which is considered the holiest month of the year for Muslims. Because of this, many Arabs voiced support for Palestine and Hamas against Israel—but not the UAE. While the UAE government did express concern about the violence it saw and did lead to a rebuke of Israeli security forces for storming a mosque, the relationship between the UAE and Israel has not been derailed. The recent opening of the permanent Holocaust exhibit in the UAE shows that the UAE is committed to strengthening ties between itself and Israel for the future.

The UAE is intent on walking a fine line between showing support for Muslims while also showing support for Israel. For instance, when Hamas fired rockets into Israel, the UAE did not celebrate this assault but rather called for a cease-fire in order to promote the peace. The UAE also sees Hamas as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, which the UAE has seen as a threat to peace for many years (Batrawy, 2021). The UAE would like to see the Arab world designate Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations (Sisodia, 2021). This insistence by the UAE over the rest of the Arab world to sever ties with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood indicates the strength of the new relationship brought about by the Abraham Accords. UAE and Israel can both agree that the Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood organizations represent a threat to peace and stability in the Middle East. The two states, since having formalized their relationship, are now focusing on improving economic conditions and enhancing their regional security. Thus, even in the face of conflict between Israel and Palestine, the UAE is focusing on calling for a truce while admonishing the groups that both it and Israel see as enemies to peace.

By coming together to celebrate the cultures of one another, the UAE and Israel are showing the rest of the Middle East that the tide has turned in Arab-Israeli relations. Violent groups like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood will continue to be branded as terrorists by both the UAE and Israel, and pressure will be put on other Gulf States to reject these organizations for the sake of common prosperity and stability throughout the Middle East. That is one of the most important facets of geopolitical change to emerge from the recently signed Abraham Accords.

The UAE has made no secret about its opposition to Hamas in the past, however. The UAE has not stopped supporting the Palestinian people—but it does refuse to support Hamas as well as the Palestinian Authority: according to one UAE lawmaker, the anger directed towards UAE is explained this way: “Now the anger towards the UAE, from both the PA and Hamas, has been created because we have stopped paying. We want to pay and we will pay the people. Not Hamas and the PA” (Chemla, 2020). Al Falasi, a member of the UAE Federal Council has stated unequivocally that “the United Arab Emirates is committed to the Palestinian people, not to Hamas and the Palestinian Authority,” which “are both corrupt and murderers” (Chemla, 2020). The UAE continues to seek reconciliation between Israel and Palestine—but it does not do so by supporting Hamas. Nor does it approve of Qatar’s funding of Hamas (Chemla, 2020). Al Falasi states that Qatar has been funding the terrorist organization for so long that it cannot stop. This will be a problem for Qatar going forward, Al Falasi states: “You have in Qatar now the leadership of Hamas, the leadership of the Taliban, and the most dangerous - the Muslim Brotherhood - whose leadership sits there. Hamas is the armed arm of both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Turkey is there, too. This ‘cocktail’ is dangerous” (Chemla, 2020). To confront this danger, the UAE is joining with Israel in a show of solidarity and peace, encouraging other Gulf States to follow suit.

Iran and the Nuclear Agreement under Obama

Another enemy that the UAE and Israel both have agreed represents a threat is Iran. The Obama Administration made an effort to strike a deal with Iran that would empower the state’s nuclear capabilities. Both the UAE and Israel have viewed this as a real danger. Under the Trump Administration, the deal with Iran was taken off the table. Now, the UAE and Israel are working with the Biden Administration to find an alternative situation to the problem that they view in Iran (Kelly, 2021). Currently, the two Middle East friends would like to find a diplomatic solution to the difficulty, but they are discussing with the US alternative options should diplomacy fail. US Secretary of State Blinken has state that “time is running out” for Iran to agree to new terms to the nuclear deal made under the Obama Administration. The US, Israel and the UAE all want tighter scrutiny over the deal, but Iran is not showing much interest in such an arrangement. Israel’s Foreign Minister Lapid went so far as to suggest that force would be used against Iran if it attempted to secure nuclear capabilities on its own (Kelly, 2021). Lapid stated unequivocally that “Israel reserves the right to act at any given moment in any way, it’s not only our right, it’s also our responsibility. Iran has publicly stated it wants to wipe us out. We have no intention of letting this happen” (Kelly, 2021). Iran, meanwhile, views US sanctions as illegal and views its nuclear development as peaceful. It does not like the way the US has handled the situation—but the UAE and Israel appear to be united on this front. They see Iran as dangerous and a threat to the region’s peace that they are trying to promote with their new formalized relationship.

For its part, the UAE supported the Trump Administration’s withdraw from the nuclear agreement made with Iran under Obama. The UAE announced that “the agreement does not guarantee Iran would refrain from pursuing a nuclear weapons in the future” (UAE Embassy, 2020). Thus, on this matter, UAE and Israel are in agreement. Iran’s nuclear development program represents a threat to their existence, and they want a solution that will address the matter. Whether it is a diplomatic solution or a military one remains to be seen.

According to Frantzman (2021), Iran’s threat to the Gulf has been consistent through the years, primarily because of its use of various organizations: “Iran operates through a series of proxies and partners, from Yemen to Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. These groups have varying degrees of links to Iran, some of them are likely directly controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Others, like Hamas, are supported by Iran but probably do not take orders from Tehran. Iran’s goal is to keep these groups armed and ready to support its activities, such that they can be operationalized or used as leverage and tools for Tehran’s regional project.” States like the UAE and Israel that are promoting peace and trade stability view Iran’s activities as a catastrophe waiting to happen. That is why UAE does not support Hamas, and it is why it has joined with Israel to denounce Iran’s development of nuclear capabilities.

Hezbollah

Another organization perceived as a threat by Israel and the UAE is Hezbollah. Already the UAE and Israel are working together to share information and intelligence regarding Hezbollah’s cyber activities (Benjakob, 2021). The two states are focused on preventing and addressing cyber crimes no matter who does them: “What we all need is to share information on defense mechanisms, the tactics, techniques and procedures used by attackers, patterns of attack and even the unique signatures that allow attribution,” states Al-Kuwaiti, a UAE cyber security czar (Benjakob, 2021). Nonetheless, the UAE sees Iran and Hezbollah as part of a vast network that extends to Yemen where the Houthis are currently fighting.

Hezbollah represents significant influence in Lebanon and throughout other areas of the Middle East (Robinson, 2021). It essentially operates as a state within a state and emerged from the civil war in Lebanon thanks to Iran’s support. It is often accused of carrying out terror attacks against Israel and other Western allies. As Robinson (2021) notes, “Hezbollah bills itself as a Shiite resistance movement, and it enshrined its ideology in a 1985 manifesto that vowed to expel Western powers from Lebanon, called for the destruction of the Israeli state, and pledged allegiance to Iran’s supreme leader.” It is a powerful organization that controls much of Lebanon and that receives hundreds of millions of dollars from Iran every year (Robinson, 2021). Israel has warned that Hezbollah has a greater arsenal than many other nations. Israel is the primary opponent of Hezbollah, which views Israel with disdain since its occupation of southern Lebanon in the 1970s.

The new formal relationship between Israel and the UAE will intensify the two states’ strategies towards addressing the Hezbollah threat. The UAE has come out strongly against what it considers terrorist organizations in the Middle East. And Israel has always viewed Hezbollah as a danger. Together, they will be collaborating and coordinating to prevent the organization from gaining further influence in the Middle East. 

Uniting to Oppose Common Enemies

Together, the UAE and Israel are uniting not just for economic and diplomatic reasons, but also to address the threats they face from common enemies. Many of those threats are traced back to Iran, but all terror organizations that they perceive as dangerous, such as Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood are on their watchlist. The deal not only gives them a framework for coordination, but it also bolsters their own positions, considering their proximity to the states and organizations they deem as enemies.

Israel has for years appeared as isolated in the Middle East. Now it no longer seems so separated from support (Bowen, 2020). The Accords gives Israel a stronger stance against Iran, with the UAE now standing beside it and sharing intelligence and discussing how to develop a greater strategy for peace and stability. The UAE’s opposition to Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon also sends a signal to the rest of the Arab world that these groups are not to be supported.

While the deal is lauded by those who support the effort, it has also been seen by Iran, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and Hezbollah as a betrayal of Arab interests. These groups see Israel as a threat to the Arab order—but the Arabs themselves are somewhat divided on this front. Not all Arab communities view the situation in the same way that Hamas and the rest do. UAE supports the Palestinian people and wants to see a positive outcome for them in their dealings with Israel—but the UAE also wants that outcome to come by way of peaceful negotiations. It refuses to support Palestinian leadership any longer, seeing these leaders as corrupt individuals who take the money that is given them to support the Palestinian cause yet refuse to negotiate a solution that will be a win-win for both Palestine and Israel.

The UAE has shown with the Accords that win-win situations are possible with Israel—all it takes is to consider what the states can do to benefit one another. If Palestinian leaders are unwilling to negotiate it is because, in the view of the UAE, they are unwilling to get over past grudges. They do not want to give in on any single issue or do anything that might be beneficial to Israel. For the UAE, this is no way to forge a new path in the Middle East.

Not everyone views the Accords with a favorable eye, however. Some critics claim it will lead to war sooner than it leads to peace (Pack, 2020). The reason for this is that regional tensions exist as a result of so many proxy forces that the Accords are likely to set off a powder keg of animosity with any one group taking violent actions against the new friends. The UAE and Israel are likely to see one another as assets that can be used to shore up peace and provide support for what otherwise appears to be their individual precarious positions. With Iran so close and other threats even closer, the two states have a mutual interest in collaborating to keep a closer watch on their enemies and preventing an attack should one be planned.

The hope is that the UAE’s extension of friendship to Israel will be a wake-up call to others to stop their fighting and realize that the correct way forward is to see how everyone can benefit from such friendship: Tzachi Hanegbi, a minister in the Israeli prime minister’s office, has stated that he is hopeful the Accords will lead to a positive rather than a disastrous effect: “Maybe this will convince the Palestinians that it’s time for them to do whatever Jordan and Egypt, now the UAE are willing to do. To see Israelis not as enemies but as friends, as assets to their well being, technology, security. We are very hopeful that maybe Palestinian leaders will now join forces with other Arab leaders and come back, negotiate with us” (Ng, 2020). The UAE is certainly of this opinion as well.

That is why the time is ripe for the UAE and Israel to join forces on a number of levels—socially, politically, economically, diplomatically, and, if necessary, militarily—to oppose the growing threat represented by their common enemies. It is important to note, however, that the UAE is not turning its support from Palestine or any other Arab communities. What it is doing is denying the leaders of their communities their legitimacy. The UAE sees Palestine’s leaders as inauthentic and corrupt. It sees Hamas as a terror organization. It sees Hezbollah as the same. It wants to put a stop to their growing power, and it wants to prevent Iran from developing nuclear capabilities that might be used to create weapons of mass destruction. If Iran were to obtain these capabilities, the UAE and Israel both would see it as a major red line that would have to be defended for the good of their own security.