Triangle of Interests

Mohamed bin Zayed’s brief Delhi visit highlights a pragmatic India—UAE—Israel convergence shaped by trade routes, technology and shifting Gulf rivalries

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Functional cooperation among India, Israel and the UAE is reshaping regional equations without formal alliances

When UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan landed in New Delhi on January 19, 2026, for a tightly choreographed three-hour visit, accompanied by a high-level delegation that included members of the royal families of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the brevity of the trip did not diminish its strategic importance. ‘The visit signalled consolidation — a sharpening of a strategic understanding that now links the UAE, India and Israel in ways that are increasingly visible, practical and grounded in hard interests.

‘This is not a formal alliance. It is a convergence of interests born of a shifting Middle Eastern order, especially in the Gulf. It is no secret that the relationship between Abu Dhabi and Jerusalem existed in quieter form well before the Abraham Accords.

Long before 2020, the UAE and Israel maintained discreet but functional ties — particularly in cyber-security, surveillance technology, intelligence exchanges and shared assessments of regional threats. ‘These links were not ideological; they were transactional and strategic. The Abraham Accords simply brought into the open a relationship built on converging threat perceptions and technological complementarities.