Israel ‘has agreed’ to sell arms to the UAE

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of the Mossad spy agency, Yossi Cohen, have agreed to sell advanced weapons to the UAE, Yedioth Ahronoth revealed on Tuesday. The move has apparently angered the Ministry of Defence

“America is not alone in selling advanced weapons to the UAE,” explained military commentator Alex Fishman, “as the F-35 aircraft deal is just the tip of the iceberg below.”

Fishman added that there is an ongoing struggle between Netanyahu and Mossad on one side and the Ministry of Defence on the other. “The Mossad is pressing with Netanyahu’s knowledge to sell combat and scientific means with high secrecy in particular to the Emirates, while the security institution is opposed to selling part of the means fearing it could be leaked to hostile countries.”

He pointed out that Netanyahu’s office and Mossad have been urging the Defence Ministry to approve the sale of military equipment to the UAE, including not only intelligence capabilities, but also advanced weapons.

One security organisation in Israel classifies countries for arms deals into normal, special and prohibited. The UAE, said Yedioth Ahronoth, is on the list of “special” countries which are not allowed to buy advanced weapons from the occupation state. “However, in practice, for more than eight years it has been enjoying the supply of Israeli military equipment with a high rating.”

READ: Arms deal with UAE won’t affect Israel’s military superiority

According to Fishman, “The door was opened to buy Israeli weapons as soon as Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, a senior Hamas leader, was assassinated in Dubai in 2010, when a deep crisis erupted in relations between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi, and Israel suffered heavy damage.”

Following that crisis, the then head of Mossad, Tamir Pardo, visited the UAE and restored relations in return for Israel agreeing to sell the Gulf State a number of advanced weapons. The UAE pledged not to pass them to Israel’s enemies.

Netanyahu’s office has denied these reports. It claimed that no applications for selling Israeli weapons to the UAE have been applied for recently. “If such applications were made,” it insisted, “the Prime Minister would not have approved them.”

The UAE normalise ties with Israel – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]