Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Mossad chief Yossi Cohen for helping his agency sign the peace agreement between Israel and the UAE, in a clear reference to the role the Mossad had played in this agreement.
It can be said that had it not been for the advanced espionage technology that the Mossad provided the UAE with, which served as the link through which political and economic relations were defined, this relationship would not have seen the light of day.
According to several press reports, the UAE has not only used Israeli technology to defend its systems against cyber attacks and arrest terrorists, but has also used it to target local activists and friendly governments, but it has also used it to use technology to spy on Western citizens.
The beginning of acquaintance
Over the past decade, there has been close security cooperation between Israel and the UAE. This cooperation first appeared in 2007, when the UAE turned to the US-based "4D Security Solutions" company, which is owned by Israel and is based in the United States, to modernize its defenses around critical energy facilities and establish a "smart" surveillance system. Citywide in Abu Dhabi.
According to multiple media reports, AGT International, a separate Swiss company owned by 4D owner Matte Kohavi, won a $ 6 billion contract, with the introduction of the subsidiary Logic Industries. She is based in Israel and has actual technical expertise for this project.
Kochavi also revealed that his company used the services of generals in the Israeli army and intelligence to manage its activities inside Abu Dhabi, noting that both the head of the Military Intelligence Division, Amos Malik, and the former Air Force commander, Eitan Bin Eliyahu, worked on behalf of his company in Abu Dhabi.
It is believed that the system that was developed, which is often called "Falcon Eye", which means in Arabic "the eye of the Falcon", was completed in 2016. This system includes a network of cameras, sensors and artificial intelligence platforms that provide all types of data, starting from controlling Traffic is closely monitored. It was reported that in 2014 some elements of this system were used to arrest an Emirati woman after a knife attack on an American school.
Several reports indicate that the Israeli Mossad may have used the "eye of a falcon" to monitor the leader of Hamas, Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, and liquidate him in Dubai in 2010, knowing that this will affect his relations with the Emirates, but he was prepared for this risk.
The sacrifice of love
Dan Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Israel, said that the UAE received Israeli technology in the wake of the 2010 assassination of Mabhouh in Dubai, amid attempts at that time to rebuild the secret relations between the two countries, which the ambassador says were damaged after the killing of Mabhouh on UAE soil.
According to Shapiro, there had been relations between Israel and the UAE for several years, but they became tense when Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, the leader responsible for purchasing rockets in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), was killed in his hotel room in Dubai.
"After the assassination of Al-Mabhouh in Dubai, there was a hiatus of about a year and a half, then we helped the two sides get closer again. They started talking to each other through the United States about what is required to return to relations as they were before the assassination," Shapiro told Israel Army Radio. ".
Shapiro said, referring to the Crown Prince of the Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, "Bin Zayed felt personally hurt by what happened with the understandings in the aftermath of the assassination, and he requested a number of technologies that Israel did not agree to give him at the time."
But soon the Mossad compensated the UAE through the company "NSO Group" (NSO Group) in 2013, which is run by two former Mossad agents, who helped the UAE in intercepting communications by senior Qatari officials, one of the Saudi princes, and the Lebanese prime minister, According to a report by the New York Times.
And in 2016, it was alleged that the Pegasus spy system was used to target the dissident Emirati citizen Ahmed Mansoor. Over the next two years, the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab found organized Pegasus attacks in 45 countries, including Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, the Palestinian territories and Saudi Arabia.
When the Israeli crow lays its eggs in the Emirates basket
After that, many suspicious technical activities between Israel and the Emirates followed, which led to the hatching of a number of espionage projects that were not targeting the enemies of the Emirates, but rather its children and friends.
An investigation by the Intercept revealed that the campaign against opponents and critics of the Emirati government, dubbed Project Raven, which means crow in Arabic, began in 2016.
The report by reporter Gina McLaughlin tells how the Maryland-based computer security company CyberPoint assembled a team of American hackers to hone the emerging hacking and surveillance capabilities in the UAE.
Later, DarkMatter, a company with close ties to the UAE government, acquired the crow project.
The Hebrew newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported in a special investigation that a number of Israelis who gained experience in computers during their military service in the intelligence corps are currently working for high salaries to develop offensive "cyber" software for the DarkMatter company in the UAE.
Informed sources in the Israeli cyber service reported that the army units of the Israeli intelligence unit "8200" and the technological unit in the intelligence apparatus have worked on developing software for foreign companies and others owned by the UAE.
Hebrew Radio 13 reported that Abu Dhabi had offered job contracts to graduates of Unit 8200 in exchange for huge sums of money and enormous privileges.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed that an Emirati security company sought to lure former Israeli intelligence officers (Mossad) to work for it, explaining that the company is DarkMatter that works for the Emirati intelligence.
The newspaper revealed that Abu Dhabi concluded a huge deal with Israel, whereby the latter would provide it with advanced intelligence capabilities, including two modern spy planes.
In July 2016, the British Middle East Eye website published a report by writer Rory Donaghy regarding the Abu Dhabi authorities ’announcement of the emirate-wide monitoring system, indicating that the company implementing the project is" Israeli. "
The newspaper pointed out that the secret relations between Abu Dhabi and Israel were strengthened 15 years ago, noting that the security and intelligence institutions in Tel Aviv were keen to surround these relations with extreme secrecy.
According to the Emirates Leaks website, Maariv newspaper mentioned in one of its reports that Abu Dhabi is buying the products of the Israeli company Vernet, which specializes in the production of intelligence equipment, especially eavesdropping techniques.
The newspaper mentioned that the Israelis who are currently managing arms deals and military consultations with Abu Dhabi are: David Maidan, who previously commanded the agent recruitment division of the Mossad "Tzomet", and Avi Leumi, founder of the airobotics company, which specializes in producing Unmanned aircraft.
Netanyahu thanks Mossad
After all this information, it is not surprising that Netanyahu thanked the head of the Mossad for the efforts of his apparatus and the technology that he provides to the rulers of the Emirates to consolidate the relationship with them until it reached the stage of public announcement.
Now that the relationship between the UAE and Israel has appeared publicly and documented by the two parties, who is the next Arab capital whose relationship with Israel will be the Mossad?