THREAD: After years of hidden relationships, the #UAE and #Israel announced their deal to normalise ties.
As the agreement between the two countries is about to be signed, I have been looking at the journey and the key events that led to this point.

Years before reaching an agreement with #UAE, Israel had formally opened 2 quasi-embassies in Doha and Muscat according to the former Director General of @IsraelMFA @DrDoreGold
They were called “Economics units” but the Qatari one was allowed to issue visas to visit Israel.

The Emirati secretive contact with Israel started before 2010 as we found, however the relation it took a hit when UAE accused Mossad of assassinating Hamas’s Al-Mabhouh in a #Dubai hotel, and asked the INTERPOL to issue Red Notices to assist in identifying 11 suspects

- @DrDoreGold dismissed the event as insignificant when it comes to the strong ties with the UAE, however said it was “unfortunate” that Mabhouh was not “thrown out” of the country before “military confrontation”
Also found that the Red-notices disappeared from the INTERPOL web.

The ties between the countries strengthened after Arab spring and rise of political Islamic movements in the Arab world, the UAE shifted its position and priorities, it was no longer neutral in its foreign policy, it started to take more roles in the regional conflicts/politics

For weeks we have been trying to contact Emirati officials, trying to get to the country to report from, but all our requests were ignored, whilst Israeli newspapers and media were given access, interviews and Op-eds.

The most noteworthy Op-ed was the written by UAE’s Ambassador to the US, Yousuef Al-Otaiba, titled “Shalom, salaam and welcome” in which Otaiba reiterated his country's priority to combat “Islamist expansionism of all stripes”

The op-ed published in Hebrew on the front page of @Ynews, in English on their website, and in Arabic in the Emirati newspaper @aletihadae, where the words “Islamist expansionism” were replace by “Fundamentalist religious thought expansionism” https://www.alittihad.ae/opinion/4119505/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%85-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AD%D8%A8%D8%A7

The first public sign of the strengthening relationship happened in 2015, when Israel supported the UAE in their bid to host the permanent HQ of IRENA, and since they won, Israel’s delegation to IRENA was based in Abu Dhabi, and Israel had the first official office in the country

You can watch the full report here in Arabic