In the crucible of the Middle East, where ancient rivalries, tribal feuds, sectarian conflicts, and great power competition have long dictated geopolitics, a pragmatic partnership between two historical adversaries — the United Arab Emirates and Israel — is steadily rewriting the regional order.
What began as discreet diplomatic engagement decades ago has evolved into one of the most consequential strategic alignments in the contemporary Middle East. The UAE-Israel partnership now extends far beyond diplomacy, encompassing defense cooperation, intelligence sharing, technology transfers, trade, logistics, and emerging global infrastructure projects.
The relationship is increasingly viewed not merely as a bilateral normalization effort but as the foundation of a broader geopolitical axis involving the United States and India, with implications for global trade routes, regional security architecture, and the balance of power in the Gulf.
While the 2020 Abraham Accords formally established diplomatic relations between the two countries, the ongoing Iran conflict, disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, energy supply shocks, and growing tensions between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh have added new urgency and strategic logic to the partnership.
The United Arab Emirates achieved independence from Britain in 1971, but formal engagement with Israel remained politically impossible for decades due to broader Arab opposition to normalization without progress on the Palestinian issue.
The regional environment changed dramatically after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. Tehran’s new revolutionary leadership openly pledged to export its Shiite Islamist ideology across the Gulf region, alarming the Arab monarchies.
For the UAE, a small but economically vital state located directly across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran, the emergence of an assertive revolutionary Iran created long-term security anxieties.
By the 1990s, geopolitical pragmatism had quietly begun to override ideological barriers.
During the Oslo peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, Emirati and Israeli officials reportedly initiated covert diplomatic contacts in Washington. One of the key drivers was Abu Dhabi’s effort to secure advanced American military technology.
The UAE sought to purchase sophisticated F-16 fighter aircraft from the United States and required tacit Israeli acceptance to ensure the deal proceeded smoothly in Washington.
The Oslo Accords, announced in the mid-1990s, created political space for limited Arab-Israeli engagement. In parallel, Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, becoming the second Arab country after Egypt to normalize relations.
That agreement established a crucial precedent: normalization with Israel could proceed independently of a final resolution to the Palestinian question.
The UAE would later adopt the same strategic template.
In 1998, Abu Dhabi and Washington announced a deal for 80 F-16C/D Block 60 “Desert Falcon” fighter jets, valued at approximately US$6.4 billion. The agreement was formally signed in 2000 and represented one of the most advanced weapons packages ever provided to a Gulf state.
For nearly two decades after the Oslo process, UAE-Israel ties expanded quietly beneath the surface.
Intelligence coordination, cybersecurity cooperation, counterterrorism discussions, and backchannel diplomacy gradually intensified as both states increasingly identified Iran and regional Islamist movements as common threats.
The relationship accelerated during the 2010s amid the upheaval caused by the Arab Spring, the Syrian civil war, and the expansion of Iranian influence across Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.
The UAE and Israel also deepened cooperation in technology and surveillance sectors, while unofficial commercial interactions became more common.
By 2020, the foundation for normalization had already been laid.
Analysts widely described the Abraham Accords not as a sudden diplomatic breakthrough but as the formalization of a long-standing convergence of interests.
On September 15, 2020, the UAE became the third Arab country after Egypt and Jordan to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords. Bahrain joined the agreement simultaneously.
The accords represented a strategic recalibration of Middle Eastern diplomacy.
Rather than conditioning normalization on the establishment of a Palestinian state, the agreement prioritized economic cooperation, security coordination, investment, and technological integration.
Embassies were opened, direct commercial flights were launched, and visa waiver agreements facilitated unprecedented people-to-people exchanges.
By 2023, more than one million Israelis had visited the UAE, turning Dubai and Abu Dhabi into major destinations for Israeli tourism and business.
The economic impact of normalization has been rapid and substantial.
Before 2020, bilateral trade between Israel and the UAE was effectively negligible. Within four years, trade volumes surged to approximately US$3.24 billion.
Both governments are now targeting US$5 billion in annual trade, while the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) aims to push economic exchanges toward US$10 billion within the next five years.
The partnership spans sectors including artificial intelligence, fintech, cybersecurity, water management, renewable energy, logistics, food security, and advanced manufacturing.
For the UAE, Israel provides access to cutting-edge innovation ecosystems and defense technologies. For Israel, the UAE offers a gateway to Gulf markets, sovereign investment capital, and global logistics infrastructure.
The UAE’s emergence as a major aviation, trade, and logistics hub aligns naturally with Israel’s ambitions to integrate more deeply into regional and international commercial networks.
This convergence is most visible in the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), unveiled during the 2023 G20 summit in New Delhi.
The corridor envisions an integrated rail, maritime, energy, and digital network connecting Indian ports through the UAE and Saudi Arabia, across Jordan and Israel, and onward to Europe.
Supporters argue the project could significantly reduce shipping times compared to traditional Suez Canal routes while also counterbalancing China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Within the IMEC framework, the UAE serves as the Gulf’s logistics and financial hub, while Israel functions as the eastern Mediterranean gateway into European markets.
The corridor also reinforces the growing strategic alignment between India, Israel, the UAE, and the United States under the I2U2 grouping.
India’s role is especially significant.
New Delhi maintains robust defense ties with Israel, strong economic relations with the UAE, and expanding strategic cooperation with Washington. India is also one of the UAE’s largest trading partners, creating a broader economic architecture that extends far beyond the Middle East.
While economics drove much of the initial enthusiasm surrounding the Abraham Accords, security cooperation has increasingly become the backbone of the relationship.
The UAE and Israel share deep concerns over Iran’s regional activities and its support for proxy groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthis.
The turning point came in early 2022 when suspected Houthi drone and missile attacks targeted Abu Dhabi, killing three civilians.
The attacks exposed vulnerabilities in the UAE’s air defense network and underscored the growing threat posed by Iranian-backed non-state actors.
Shortly afterward, Israel reportedly sold the UAE advanced Rafael-made SPYDER air defense systems.
The two countries also expanded military cooperation through joint exercises.
In 2021, Emirati and Israeli forces participated in joint naval drills in the Red Sea alongside the United States and Bahrain.
In 2023, the UAE and Israel announced their first bilateral naval exercise and revealed a jointly developed unmanned maritime vessel, highlighting expanding defense-industrial collaboration.
Despite regional tensions surrounding the Gaza conflict, military cooperation continued.
In April 2025, the UAE deployed Mirage 2000-9 fighter jets to multinational exercises in Greece involving US and Israeli forces.
However, the ongoing Iran conflict has pushed the security partnership into unprecedented territory.
As tensions escalated across the Gulf, Israel reportedly deployed Iron Dome batteries and advanced drone-detection systems to Abu Dhabi.
Israeli personnel were also deployed to operate some of these systems, marking the first overt Israeli troop deployment to an Arab partner state for active defense cooperation.
Reports further indicated that Israel provided the UAE with advanced surveillance technologies capable of detecting low-flying Iranian drones and missiles.
According to regional reports, a version of Israel’s Iron Beam laser-based air defense system was also dispatched to help strengthen Emirati defenses.
The unprecedented cooperation reflects how deeply aligned Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv have become in confronting Iranian influence.
Emirati officials reportedly participated in strategic coordination meetings alongside Israeli and US military leaders during ceasefire negotiations, highlighting an increasingly institutionalized security relationship.
At the same time, the UAE is reportedly negotiating with Israel’s Elbit Systems to acquire Hermes 900 medium-altitude long-endurance drones, including provisions for local production through the Emirati defense conglomerate EDGE Group.
The agreement would significantly enhance the UAE’s domestic defense manufacturing capabilities while deepening technological integration with Israel.
Despite the clear strategic and economic benefits, the UAE-Israel partnership also carries substantial political risks.
The Palestinian issue remains deeply sensitive across the Arab and Muslim worlds. Although many Gulf governments have shifted toward pragmatic engagement with Israel, public opinion in much of the region continues to strongly support the Palestinian cause.
Abu Dhabi’s close ties with Israel risk accusations of abandoning Arab solidarity, particularly during periods of intensified conflict in Gaza.
The UAE also faces broader geopolitical complications.
Relations between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, historically close strategic partners, have shown signs of strain in recent years over energy policy, regional influence, and economic competition.
The UAE’s departure from OPEC structures and disagreements with Saudi Arabia over oil production strategy have highlighted emerging fault lines within the Gulf.
In this context, the UAE’s expanding relationship with Israel may increasingly become part of a broader realignment of regional power centers.
Iran, meanwhile, appears to view the Emirati-Israeli partnership as a direct strategic threat.
Some regional analysts believe Abu Dhabi has faced disproportionate targeting from Tehran and Iranian-aligned groups precisely because of its growing cooperation with Israel and participation in broader US-led regional frameworks.
Yet for Emirati policymakers, the calculation appears rooted in long-term survival and strategic diversification.
As global power competition intensifies and the Middle East undergoes another phase of geopolitical transformation, Abu Dhabi increasingly sees technological superiority, diversified alliances, and integrated security networks as essential to protecting its economic model and national security.
Israel, facing persistent regional hostility and seeking broader regional acceptance, similarly views the UAE as its most important Arab strategic partner. The result is the emergence of a new Middle Eastern axis built not on ideology, ethnicity, or sectarian identity, but on shared strategic interests.
