The official news agency in the country reported that the Israeli Defense Minister spoke with a minister in the Ministry of Defense in Abu Dhabi • It was recently reported that the Emirates is interested in acquiring an F-35

• Defense Minister Bnei Gantz // Photo: Oren Ben Hakon

Defense Minister Bnei Gantz and United Arab Emirates Defense Minister Ahmad al-Bawardi held a telephone conversation and talked about the agreement establishing the relations between the two countries, the state news agency Wam reported. 

According to the report, both sides expressed confidence that the agreement, which was defined in the Arab media as a "peace agreement", would increase the chances of peace and stability in the region and represent a "positive step in the right direction".

"We look forward to strengthening communication channels and maintaining stable reciprocal relations that will bring welfare to both countries and the entire region," the United Arab Emirates' Ministry of Defense said. 

Cooperation between Israel and the United Arab Emirates has strengthened significantly since the announcement of the establishment of relations between Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi. Last week, the United Arab Emirates announced that it was considering buying a skimmer interception system made in Israel.

The United Arab Emirates hopes that establishing relations with Israel will persuade the United States and the Trump administration to sell them advanced defense systems in which the F-35 stealth plane, in which Israel was a partner and has not yet been sold to any other political entity in the Middle East. 

Israel Today reported that according to a report in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, senior Hamas figures claim that after the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006, in which Hamas defeated the Fatah movement by 76 seats compared to 43, there was a marked turnaround. In the emirates began to close the sources of income of the organization across the country.

According to Hamas officials, these significant steps were taken with the help of intelligence that reached Abu Dhabi directly from Jerusalem. They claim that as part of the arrests, several senior members of the organization were tortured.