UAE Provides Entertainment Programs for Israeli Soldiers Involved in Gaza War

The UAE authorities have organized special entertainment programs for Israeli soldiers participating in the war on Gaza, many of whom are responsible for heinous massacres and brutal crimes against Palestinian civilians.

Israeli media outlets revealed that coordination is taking place between the Israeli Ministry of Defense and a UAE government committee to arrange regular visits for Israeli soldiers to the UAE for recreational holidays before returning to combat in Gaza.

According to these reports, the entertainment programs are offered to groups of soldiers who have fought for extended periods in Gaza, allowing them to spend their vacations in Dubai. This initiative is intended to remove them from the tense atmosphere of the ongoing escalation in Gaza and along the border with Lebanon.

More than 5,000 Israeli soldiers have reportedly taken advantage of the UAE government program, enjoying fully funded vacations in Dubai over the past two months. Among them is Israeli soldier Eyal Hakshir, who participated in the destruction of Gaza and committed massacres there. Photos of him from April of this year have been documented.

Recently, Hakshir posted photos of himself on a sightseeing tour in the UAE, strolling freely and safely in Jumeirah, Dubai, under the protection and funding of the UAE authorities.

Despite the suspension of flights by many international airlines to and from Israel, the UAE has increased its flights to Tel Aviv to transport stranded Israelis, estimated at 150,000 people.

UAE airlines have intensified their flights between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv, making the UAE a destination for stranded Israelis seeking to return home.

The UAE’s airline began operating flights between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv in April 2021, approximately eight months after the signing of the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and the UAE.

In this context, pro-Israel US Congressman Ritchie Torres criticized the suspension of flights by American and international airlines to Tel Aviv, while UAE airlines continue to operate flights to Israel.

Torres, who has received significant donations from the pro-Israel lobby in the United States, stated, “How can it be too dangerous for airlines like American Airlines, Delta, and United to fly to Israel, while UAE airlines like Etihad, Flydubai, and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi continue to operate flights to Tel Aviv?”

He criticized the decision of American airlines to suspend flights to Israel, making travel to Tel Aviv more difficult and costly.

American Airlines, Delta, and United Airlines halted their flights to Israel after October 7. Delta has announced an extension of the suspension until October 31, while American Airlines extended it until March 29 of next year, and United Airlines indefinitely.

Torres pointed out that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not issued a travel ban to Israel since October 7, unlike in 2014 when it imposed a 36-hour ban on American flights to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

This comes as official Israeli statistics show over $1.5 billion in trade between the UAE and Israel since the beginning of this year, despite the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza and the West Bank.

A recent report by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics highlighted growth in trade volume between Israel and the UAE during the first half of 2024.

Global media outlets cited the Abraham Accords Peace Institute, reporting figures from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics that trade between Israel and the UAE amounted to $271.9 million in June 2024.

This figure represents a 5% increase compared to the same month last year, bringing the total trade between the two countries during the first six months of this year to $1.66 billion, with a growth rate of 7% compared to the same period in 2023.

The Abraham Accords Peace Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit American organization supporting the implementation and expansion of peace agreements between Israel and Arab states. It was inaugurated by Jared Kushner, senior advisor and son-in-law of former US President Donald Trump, in September 2021, marking the first anniversary of the signing of four peace agreements between Israel and Arab countries.

The Abraham Accords, brokered by the United States, are a series of agreements for public normalization between the UAE, Bahrain, and Israel, signed in August 2020, with Morocco following suit later.

Recent events have shown that the UAE’s policy towards Israel is unwavering. The UAE leadership, represented by the “sons of Zayed,” has long made its stance clear: they stand fully with Israel, fully supporting the crushing of Hamas and all Palestinian resistance factions. In fact, they are more eager to “complete the mission” than Israel itself.

The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar stated that the UAE does not hesitate to invest directly in Israeli crimes. This week alone witnessed two significant events on this level.

The first is the announcement of the establishment of a branch of the Israeli company Rafael in Abu Dhabi to convert Emirates aircraft into cargo planes. The second is the financial rescue of the struggling Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi through a direct investment of $1 billion in Sotheby’s auction house, which he owns, after Qatar refused to do so due to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Drahi owns the Israeli channel HOT and the news network i24, both of which strongly defend Israeli massacres in Gaza.

Since the signing of the Abraham Accords in September 2020, hardly a week has passed without a new investment in Israel or with Israel, even though announcements reflecting the growth of trade relations between the two sides have decreased during the war.

The latest example of this is the announcement by Israel’s ambassador to the UAE, Amir Hayek, in mid-2023, that trade with Israel reached $1.29 billion in the first five months of 2023, excluding software trade, the volume of which has not been disclosed.

As for the UAE’s “Gallant Knight” operation to assist Gazans, which has produced three versions so far, it lacks both gallantry and chivalry. These qualities would first require a boycott of the enemy oppressing Palestinians, not direct investment in its oppression machine.

Moreover, the aid provided by the Gulf state to Palestinians in Gaza pales in comparison to the supplies delivered to Israel through a corridor opened via Saudi Arabia and Jordan. This corridor supplies Israel with everything it needs, starting from UAE ports, after Ansar Allah successfully tightened the siege on the Israeli port of Eilat in the Red Sea.

And who says that the meager aid isn’t one of the soft war tools parallel to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza? The reality is that it serves suspicious purposes, ultimately benefiting the role that the “sons of Zayed” regime can play in Gaza after the war.

This role is crucial for Israel, which is why Abu Dhabi can set up a field hospital in Gaza that doesn’t get bombed while all other Palestinian hospitals are leveled to the ground.

Similarly, the UAE can establish bakeries in Gaza that won’t be bombed, while other bakeries are completely destroyed. In the same vein, the UAE can evacuate a thousand injured people from Gaza and treat them in its hospitals, while other injured individuals are left to die because they are not allowed to leave.

The UAE is at the forefront of managing Gaza post-war.

The UAE played a primary role in the limited aid allowed through Cyprus, which was stopped after the Israelis noticed that for the first time since the war began, Gazans’ stomachs might be getting full.

In all the plans devised by the Americans and Israelis for managing Gaza post-war, the UAE, which fulfills its assigned role as the “Gallant Knight,” tops the list.

Through all this, the UAE provides, albeit on a small scale for now, what it and the U.S. and Israel hope will become a substitute for Hamas’s administration of Gaza. Whether it’s distributing aid now or perhaps managing the territory later, Abu Dhabi has the tools for the job, including the security apparatus of Mohammed Dahlan and his group.

Moreover, there are other goals related to the internal situation in the UAE, as this aid might be perceived by many ordinary Emiratis as a humanitarian act done in their name for the benefit of Palestinians. This is especially true since the Israeli crimes in Gaza have caused pent-up public anger in the UAE due to the nature of the relationship their country maintains with the enemy.

Thus, because Israel’s ultimate goal is the extermination or displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, the role of the “Gallant Knight” UAE becomes that of feeding the sheep before leading it to slaughter.

What the UAE can do for Israel, no other country can, and the failure of the American naval bridge is a clear example of this.

The newspaper concluded that the UAE, as an Arab-speaking country, can communicate with Palestinians in Gaza and has the ability to influence them since it is, in some cases, the only channel through which something can enter their mouths and stomachs amid the hunger.

However, the UAE’s role hasn’t yet reached the point of directly provoking the resistance, which allows a small portion of aid to reach Palestinians, even if it comes through the devil himself.