Saudi Arabia denies that its officials attended the Netanyahu–Mohamed bin Zayed meeting

Saudi Arabia has denied that its representatives attended a meeting held Sunday in Abu Dhabi following the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. A Saudi official told AFP on Wednesday that there had been “no official meeting, no discussion, absolutely nothing” and stressed that Riyadh’s position toward Israel remains unchanged.

Israeli media reported on the X platform that Saudi officials had taken part in an expanded meeting at which security cooperation, Iran, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and regional defense systems were discussed.

The United Arab Emirates is among the few Arab states that maintain official relations with Israel, following the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020, during the first term of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Saudi Arabia makes recognition of Israel conditional on the creation of a Palestinian state. Riyadh held talks on normalizing relations in 2023, but withdrew after the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attack.