Articles

What the UAE Hopes to Gain from Israel’s Growing Isolation, by Mira Al Hussein – 25 June 2025

From +972 Magazine

Abu Dhabi seeks to present itself to the West as a stable alternative to an increasingly rogue Israel, where defense cooperation and capital can flourish.

When U.S. President Donald Trump visited the Gulf last month, complete with fanfare and choreographed spectacle, it reinforced a growing sense among Gulf states that the region is on a political ascent. The four-day tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates was Trump’s first major foreign trip in his second term — a deliberate decision to bypass traditional U.S. allies, including Israel — and Gulf officials and academics increasingly view themselves as part of a rising bloc with significant leverage. 

The assumption, evident in the Abraham Accords, that access to the United States was best secured via Israel seemed to be giving way to a new confidence that the Gulf can deal directly with Washington, and be heard on its own terms. As former Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash recently put it, the balance of power is seen to be tilting in the Gulf’s favor. 

Whether these assumptions reflect reality or are grounded in any tangible and lasting shifts in the international order remains to be seen. Indeed, Trump’s decision to join Israel in attacking Iran — and Iran’s retaliatory strikes against the Al Udeid U.S. military base in Qatar — sounded alarm bells in Gulf capitals, and leaders are now trying to ensure that the fragile ceasefire holds.

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Mira Al Hussein is a sociologist of the Arab states of the Gulf and a Research Fellow at the Alwaleed Centre, University of Edinburgh.

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