RIYADH — September 30, 2026: Saudi Arabia has firmly denied reports that its officials took part in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his weekend visit to the United Arab Emirates, rejecting claims carried by Israeli media of an expanded regional security gathering in Abu Dhabi.
A senior Saudi official told AFP on Tuesday that no representatives of the kingdom had attended any talks involving Netanyahu and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “No official meetings. No talks. Nothing whatsoever. Our stance on Israel remains unchanged,” the official said.
The denial followed a social media post by an Israeli journalist claiming that Saudi representatives joined an expanded meeting after Netanyahu’s one-on-one talks with the Emirati president on Sunday. The Israeli news site Ynet reported that officials from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar and Libya had taken part, with discussions said to focus on Iran, the Houthis, security cooperation and regional air defences.
Ynet later issued a correction, saying it could not confirm that the meeting had actually taken place. A Saudi source told Arab News there was “no truth” to the reports, adding that no meetings involving representatives of other countries had occurred as described.
Jordan also denies role
A Jordanian official source separately told Arab News that no Jordanian official had participated in the reported meeting, describing the Israeli press reports as being driven by electoral considerations linked to Netanyahu.
The weekend visit
Netanyahu travelled secretly to Abu Dhabi on Sunday, September 27, on a trip first disclosed by a senior Israeli official to Reuters. The visit was confirmed publicly on Monday by the UAE’s state news agency WAM, which said Sheikh Mohamed and Netanyahu discussed bilateral relations and ways to strengthen and develop them.
Netanyahu’s office said the visit came at the invitation of the UAE president and focused on strengthening relations and addressing regional challenges. Three senior Israeli officials told Reuters the meeting lasted six hours and centred on Iran.
Backdrop of a warning row
The trip unfolded against a disputed report by the Israeli daily Haaretz earlier this month, which claimed Sheikh Mohamed had warned Netanyahu of a looming Hamas attack about ten days before the October 7, 2023 assault on Israel — a warning the Israeli leader says he never received. The Associated Press reported, citing people briefed on the trip, that Netanyahu asked the Emirati president to publicly deny the claim during their meeting, though Netanyahu’s office rejected related accounts as false.
Riyadh holds its line
The UAE has said it maintains “open and direct lines of communication” with Israel since establishing diplomatic relations under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020.
Saudi Arabia, by contrast, has maintained that it will not normalise relations with Israel without a clear path to Palestinian statehood. Analysts said the kingdom’s swift and categorical denial underlines how far Riyadh remains from any formal engagement with Israel, even as it moves to repair its strained relationship with Abu Dhabi following last year’s rift over Yemen.
The denial came a day after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman received UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Riyadh — the first senior-level Emirati visit to the kingdom since the two Gulf states fell out.
