Israel, UAE sign memorandum on internal security cooperation following normalisation deal

Israel and the UAE have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in internal security, just one week after they reached a controversial normalisation deal.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab Staff

21 August, 2020

Israel and the UAE signed a peace deal last week [Getty]

Israel and the United Arab Emirates have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding cooperation in the field of internal security, Israeli media reported on Thursday.

The Israeli news website Kan reported that Israeli Public Security Minister Amir Ohana spoke to his Emirati counterpart, Seif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in order to facilitate the signing of the deal.

Last Tuesday Yossi Cohen, the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, visited the UAE to discuss security cooperation, just five days after the UAE and Israel signed a controversial peace deal normalizing relations.

Before the signing of the peace deal, the UAE was found to be using Israeli ‘Pegasus’ spyware to monitor and hack the phones of dissidents and activists.

Palestinians have condemned the UAE-Israel peace deal, calling it a “betrayal” and “a stab in the back”, pointing out that Israel continues to occupy large parts of the West Bank and that the deal did not prevent possible future Israeli annexation of these areas, as claimed by the UAE.

This memorandum of understanding is the first such agreement between Israel and the UAE following the peace deal reached last week. The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday that the Israeli foreign ministry was negotiating a memorandum of understanding with its UAE counterpart, without giving further details.

The Israeli economy ministry previously estimated that Israel could export up to US$500 million worth of goods to the UAE every year, while UAE investments in Israel could reach US$350 million per year.