United Arab Emirates, Israel, and Iran: From Hacking to Reality

A group of hackers reportedly linked to Moscow has published hundreds of stolen emails from the account of Yousef al-Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States, online. The hackers, who identify themselves as "Global Leakers," operated from an email account in Russia, but according to reports, the initial theft was carried out by a whistleblower residing in Washington, D.C., who sold the stolen information to the hackers. Subsequently, the hackers provided samples of the hacked content to several news and internet outlets, including The Intercept, Huffington Post, and Daily Beast, and the information was then disseminated more widely. According to The Intercept, 55 pages of Yousef al-Otaiba's emails have been hacked and published, which appear to have been printed on paper and then photographed with a digital camera. Some of these emails date back to 2014. A spokesperson for the UAE embassy in Washington confirmed in an interview with Daily Beast that the emails belong to the ambassador and implicitly stated that the hacked documents have reached many people. The UAE and Israel – the UAE does not have official diplomatic relations with Israel, but there is a close relationship between the two countries in all areas. This relationship dates back several decades, and Dubai has often played a mediating role in issues related to the Palestinians. Nonetheless, the relationship has remained informal, and in 2013, Israeli newspapers reported the opening of a political representation office in one of the Gulf Arab countries, with strong speculation that it was the UAE. Yousef al-Otaiba has served as the UAE ambassador in Washington since 2008. He is a highly influential diplomat with close ties to U.S. security and defense officials. According to The Intercept, al-Otaiba has close relations with Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and advisor. He also has very good relations with active institutions and lobbies in the capital, including the influential Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which is considered a pro-Israel think tank. This non-governmental foundation is funded by American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a close ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mark Dubowitz tweeted that since 2013, Mr. Adelson has not provided financial support to this foundation, and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies has never received money from foreign governments and will not do so. The content of the emails – although the existence of an official relationship between Israel and the UAE has never been confirmed, both have often had good relations and have cooperated permanently on regional issues, especially in countering their common rival, Iran. The content of the leaked emails not only demonstrates the role and impact of secret communications in policymaking but also indicates the friendly relations between the two countries, Israel and the UAE. One of the emails recently exchanged between Mark Dubowitz, a prominent executive at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, al-Otaiba, and John Hannah, a senior advisor at the foundation, has the subject line: "Target companies that invest in Iran, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia." In this email, dated March 10, 2017, Dubowitz writes: "Dear Ambassador, the attached note contains a list of companies that trade with Iran and at the same time trade with the UAE and Saudi Arabia. As we discussed, this list is for telling these companies to choose one of these countries." Dubowitz told Huffington Post that the list of international companies provided to the UAE ambassador is an approach he has publicly discussed many times and that he has sent the list to several individuals in Washington and outside the U.S. for their opinions. The mentioned list contains many names of non-American companies, such as Lukoil and Airbus, which have been seeking to invest in Iran following the nuclear agreement. According to The Intercept, the assumption of the email's author is that Saudi Arabia or the UAE could pressure these companies to refrain from investing in Iran after the 2015 nuclear agreement. In another email exchanged in late April, John Hannah, who previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor under former Vice President Dick Cheney, complains to al-Otaiba about why Qatar is organizing a meeting with Hamas leaders in a hotel owned by the UAE. Al-Otaiba's response is that it is not the UAE's fault and that the main problem lies with the U.S. military base in Qatar, suggesting, "How about you move the base out of Qatar and we change the hotel?" Hannah and al-Otaiba have had a close relationship, and in an email sent by Hannah to al-Otaiba last August, he included an article claiming that the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the UAE jointly bore responsibility for the failed military coup in Turkey. In this email, Hannah writes, "We are proud to be on the same side as you." Another hacked email reveals the detailed agenda for a meeting scheduled between June 11 and 14 between the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the UAE government. The issue of Qatar and Al Jazeera television is also among the topics to be discussed at this meeting. According to Al Jazeera's website, the leaked emails describe Al Jazeera as "destructive" and "a tool of regional instability" and suggest that this television network be portrayed as one that promotes chaos and instability instead of good journalism. Additionally, former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Mark Dubowitz from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies are expected to attend the meeting this month. Furthermore, messages exchanged between the ambassador and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies indicate that meetings are expected with prominent figures such as Mohammed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of the UAE, under whose command the UAE military operates, and Mohammed Dahlan, a Palestinian figure currently residing in the UAE. However, it is unclear whether the planned meeting will still take place following the leak of these emails. A significant portion of the correspondence focuses on U.S.-UAE relations and how to influence Iran in a way that internal conditions in Iran can be exploited to "contain and defeat" Iran's regional policies. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has played a role in shaping political discussions in President Trump's administration, and it is not unlikely that the UAE hopes to leverage existing relations to encourage President Trump to adopt a tougher stance against Iran. According to The Intercept, a researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies named David Weinberger stated last month regarding the U.S. regional approach that "the UAE is waiting for the U.S. to turn slogans into action." Interestingly, before the Iran nuclear agreement, the UAE was one of the few countries in the Gulf that had special economic and trade relations with Iran, and many wealthy Iranians transferred their windfall from the sanctions era there, with many even managing to obtain UAE citizenship. After the nuclear agreement, it was expected that UAE ports, especially Dubai port, would become a major trading gateway between the two countries. Although these relations had diminished during Ahmadinejad's presidency, it seemed unlikely that anything could impose long-term negative impacts on Iran-UAE relations. Certainly, the nuclear deal and subsequent developments in Iran's relations with Saudi Arabia, Iran's regional role in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen created negative factors for the deterioration of relations. Now, with this new wave of disclosures and internet hacks, new dimensions of emerging hostilities in the region are apparent. Since the disclosure of these emails, from last Thursday until now, in response to these revelations, the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain have blocked access to many websites. Among the websites that are inaccessible in these countries is Al Jazeera's website, indicating that hostilities have also targeted Qatar and Al Jazeera. When we add Qatar's sudden closeness to Iran to this equation, we realize that alliances in the region are undergoing significant changes, and in fact, these disclosures are not just a case of internet hacking but indicate a more precise and complex planning that may require some patience to fully understand its dimensions.