UAE’s Strategic Betrayal: How Abu Dhabi Aligned with Israel to Crush Palestinian Resistance
As Gaza faces genocide, the UAE deepens its alliance with Israel and the U.S., aiming to dismantle Palestinian resistance politically and militarily.
Watan-As Gaza endures one of the most brutal genocidal campaigns in modern history, Abu Dhabi is immersed in another deadly project—crushing Palestinian resistance, both politically and militarily, in service of its strategic alliances with Israel and the United States.
Once a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, the UAE has clearly positioned itself as an adversary to any form of resistance, joining a regional alliance whose goal is to destroy the final lines of defense in Gaza and dismantle Palestinian will to resist occupation.
From Normalization to Collusion
Since signing the Abraham Accords in 2020, the UAE has led the normalization push with Israel, elevating the partnership to unprecedented levels of military, intelligence, and economic cooperation. The war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, has exposed the depth of this alliance. The UAE initially refrained from condemning Israeli massacres, instead promoting Tel Aviv’s narrative of a “war on terror” and explicitly backing so-called “resistance dismantling” plans.
During the Cairo summit in March 2024, while Arab leaders proposed Gaza reconstruction initiatives, credible reports revealed that the UAE lobbied Washington to abandon the plan, even pushing alternatives that would accelerate the displacement of Gaza’s population.
According to Middle East Eye, Abu Dhabi pressured Egypt to open its borders to displaced Palestinians—a move described by rights groups as a veiled form of ethnic cleansing masked as humanitarian aid.
Strategy to Strangle Resistance
The UAE’s campaign goes beyond political maneuvering. According to intelligence sources and testimony cited by journalist Bob Woodward in his book War, Abu Dhabi is covertly backing U.S. and Israeli efforts to eliminate Palestinian resistance militarily, assuring the White House that Arab allies support the mission and are unbothered by Palestinian bloodshed—concerned only about domestic backlash.
This strategy aligns with the UAE’s years-long agenda of targeting all resistance movements across the region—from Palestine to Sudan, Yemen, and Lebanon. Abu Dhabi has bankrolled coups and paramilitary forces designed to choke opposition and destabilize supportive governments.
Extensive media networks are also weaponized to demonize Palestinian resistance as “terrorism,” blaming it for the devastation inflicted by Israel’s war machine.
Ideological Hostility to the Palestinian Cause
The UAE’s hostility toward Palestinian resistance is not purely strategic; it appears deeply ideological. Any successful resistance movement threatens Abu Dhabi’s authoritarian model and offers hope for democratic change—especially within the Gulf.
Hence, the UAE has not stayed neutral. It has participated in psychological and media warfare, promoted alternative Palestinian figures in the West Bank and Jerusalem aligned with Israeli interests, and invested heavily in efforts to “reengineer” Palestinian leadership into a compliant, security-coordinating entity that abandons national goals.
Silence in Exchange for Partnership
Since the war’s start, the UAE has issued only vague calls for “restraint,” avoiding any direct condemnation of Israeli war crimes. It has either abstained or diluted key UN General Assembly resolutions demanding a ceasefire—prioritizing its alliance with Washington and Tel Aviv.
Even as some Arab capitals feign discomfort, the UAE forges deeper agreements with Israel, extending beyond trade to include security and strategic cooperation. Despite global calls to halt arms deals with Israel over war crimes, UAE-Israel defense contracts have not slowed—they have accelerated.
Regime vs. People
Ironically, the UAE’s own citizens, like many across the Arab world, have shown solidarity with Gaza, even under heavy repression. This highlights the chasm between public sentiment and official policy, underscoring how decision-making has been hijacked by elite interests.
In this context, the UAE seems to have consciously chosen to align with a colonial power over a besieged people—for the sake of regime stability and elite privilege. This is not passive complicity; it is active collaboration that empowers Israel’s killing machine and legitimizes its settler-colonial agenda.
A Coalition Against Palestine’s Future
The war on Gaza has shattered the illusion of modernity that the UAE tries to project. A regime that supports the suppression of an occupied population cannot claim to be a beacon of progress.
By fully aligning with the Zionist project, Abu Dhabi has forsaken basic moral and political principles in exchange for promises of investment, tech, and security guarantees.
But history will not forget. Just as those who expelled Palestinians from Beirut in 1982 are judged, so too will those who now enable the dismantling of Gaza’s last bastions of resistance—while the images from Gaza expose not only Israel’s crimes, but the hands aiding them in the shadows.
