The announcement of the UAE and Israel today of an agreement between them to normalize their relations was nothing but the culmination of successive overt and secret introductions in the past years for cooperation and coordination between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv in the political and military sphere, as well as the various forms of sports and cultural normalization and others, and the following is a review of some of the most prominent normalization steps between UAE and Israel in the past few years.

July 2020

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed, through its "Israel in Arabic" account on Twitter, that an Israeli company has sent one of its innovations in the field of combating Corona virus to the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi. On the second of July of this year, two Israeli companies signed an agreement with a number of Emirati companies to develop technological solutions to deal with the emerging corona virus.

June 2020

On June 26, the UAE officially announced the launch of joint projects with Israel in the medical field and combating Corona, and on the same day Israeli media revealed that Abu Dhabi had provided Israel with 100,000 virus testing kits. This came a day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his country's cooperation with the UAE in combating Corona, despite the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

- UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said that the decision to invite Israel to Expo 2020 in the UAE is a natural and logical matter, and that no country can be excluded from participation.

- The Emirati ambassador to Washington, Yousef Al-Otaiba, published an article - in the Israeli newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, in which he reviewed the Abu Dhabi government's vision of the intimate relations he described with Israel. He pointed out that Israel and the UAE have two of the best armies in the region, and that through their deep and long relations with the United States, they can create more effective joint security cooperation.

- The second Emirati plane landed at the Israeli Ben Gurion Airport within a month, on a direct flight from Abu Dhabi to Israel, claiming to provide aid to Palestine, but the Palestinian government refused these aid for lack of prior coordination with it, and Palestinian factions considered it an unacceptable normalization.

Almost three thousand Jews from different countries residing in the UAE have created an official account for the Jewish community on Twitter. The account, which identifies itself as the official account of the Jewish community in the UAE, was opened last May.

Eli, a member of the Jewish community in the UAE launched the first kashir (halal) food service in the Gulf region, due to the increasing demand for kashir Jewish food, especially for Jewish visitors who arrive in the UAE to participate in conferences dealing with interfaith tolerance. / IUP4dESN9i pic.twitter.com/6IUlJyZepy

- Israel in the Gulf (@IsraelintheGulf) June 4, 2020

The "Israel in the Gulf" account revealed the opening of the first Israeli restaurant in the UAE, as a result of the increasing demand for Jewish food in the country. The account posted on Twitter that one of the members of the Jewish community in the Emirates, Eli Kriel, launched the first "Jewish kosher" (halal food) food service in the Gulf region.

May 2020

The Israeli Channel 12 reported that Emirates Airlines transferred a number of Israelis stranded due to the Corona virus in Morocco to Tel Aviv at the request of the Israeli side.

February 2020

- The US news site Axios reported at the beginning of the month that Israel and the UAE signed in December of last year a non-aggression agreement between them, in a step that paves the way for the normalization of relations between the two countries.

An Israeli team participated in the Dubai Cycling Tour, and Israeli news sites reported that Emirati officials welcomed the Israeli sports team, which participated in T-shirts bearing the colors of the Israeli flag.

For the first time, an Israeli team will participate in a cycling race in the UAE in the coming days. In an interview with Kan TV, the Israeli cyclist who will participate in the race under the Israeli flag said: "The feeling is wonderful. The UAE is a special place that takes breaths. I am greeted with arms and people here are very friendly." @ Kann_news pic.twitter.com/01IDUdWu6U

- Israel in Arabic (@IsraelArabic) February 22, 2020

Ibrahim Ajami, CEO of the Emirati company Mubadala - one of Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth funds - invited Israeli startups to operate in the Gulf states.

- A source in the UAE government confirmed to CNN that the US news agency hosted the White House for a meeting between representatives of the United Arab Emirates and Israel last December.

The American website said that the source did not reveal the content of the meeting, while Israeli officials refused to comment on the matter.

Axios was the first to publish a report on the meeting, and it quoted US officials as saying that the talks were held to coordinate the political stance against Iran, and the meeting dealt at the same time with the normalization of relations between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv.

- Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that he had met in Uganda the head of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan; In an effort to normalize relations between Sudan and Israel, a Sudanese official said that the UAE had coordinated the meeting between al-Burhan and Netanyahu, a meeting that was condemned by the Palestinian leadership.

January 2020

Former Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz canceled a visit to the emirate of Dubai, against the backdrop of security directives by his country's intelligence, following the US assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Two diplomats linked the decision to postpone the Israeli minister's visit to the escalating tension between the United States and Iran. Katz, who was heading the Ministry of Intelligence, was scheduled to attend meetings in mid-January in Dubai in preparation for Expo 2020.

December 2019

- The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed that those it described as members of the Jewish community in the Emirate of Dubai in the Emirates lit the eighth and final candle of Hanukkah Jewish Festival, and this comes after Israel received an official congratulation from the UAE on that occasion.

- The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in the same month that an official Israeli delegation headed by Director General of the Ministry Yuval Rotem secretly visited the UAE, and met in Dubai with senior Emirati officials. She added that the delegation had signed a formal agreement regarding Israel's participation in the "Expo 2020" exhibition hosted by the UAE next year, and that a week after the signing of the work, preparations for the Israeli pavilion would begin.

October 2019

The Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" revealed that an Emirati security company was attracting former Israeli intelligence officers to work for it, with astronomical salaries reaching one million dollars annually. She added that the investigations revealed that the "DarkMatter" company is working for the Emirati intelligence, in pursuing Western journalists and human rights activists.

August 2019

The American Wall Street Journal said that Israel and the UAE held two secret meetings, arranged by the United States, to coordinate efforts to confront Iran. The American newspaper stated that the US special envoy to Iran, Brian Hook, coordinated the two meetings between the UAE and Israel, and that the first meeting was held last spring, while the second was held recently.

The Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" reported that the UAE concluded a huge deal worth 3 billion dollars with Israel, providing it with advanced intelligence capabilities, including two modern spy planes.

October 2018

- The UAE authorities allowed Israeli athletes to compete under their country's flag in the Grand Slam Judo Championship that was held in Abu Dhabi and organized by the International Judo Federation, and Israeli Minister of Culture and Tourism Miri Regev accompanied her country's national team to Abu Dhabi to follow its tournament competitions.

- The former Israeli Minister of Communications Ayoub Kara attended the telecommunications conference held in Dubai at the end of October 2018, where he delivered a speech.