Hebrew Channel Reveals Scandal Involving Israeli Ambassador in the UAE and Anger from Emirati Officials

SadaNews Translation - Channel 12 revealed this evening, Thursday, an incident involving the Israeli Ambassador to the UAE, Yossi Shelley, who is the former director-general of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

According to the Hebrew channel, as translated by SadaNews, this incident occurred several months ago at a bar in Dubai and has sparked recent controversy in the diplomatic and political circles in Israel.

The channel stated that Shelley was seen during the incident behaving in an unusual manner inconsistent with the expected standards of an ambassador, acting in a "disrespectful" way while accompanied by several Israelis and Israeli women who accompanied him to the bar.

It noted that the embarrassing incident was hard to overlook, exceeding the bounds of personal behavior, relating to values and ethics, without revealing further details.

The channel explained, as translated by SadaNews, that the incident created a state of tension between the Israeli ambassador and the Emirati government after a report was filed regarding the incident by the Emirati security guards who noticed what was happening, which was then relayed to Israeli officials, including security agencies.

Emirati officials clarified that they will not tolerate the continuation of such behavior.

The UAE has not filed an official complaint with Israel regarding the Israeli ambassador's actions, but through unofficial channels, they made it clear that Shelley's behavior is unacceptable and harms their dignity.

An Emirati official told the Hebrew channel: The mentioned incident does not represent the behavior expected from someone who is supposed to symbolize the growing relations between the two countries, and certainly is not supposed to represent their shared interests; if it were someone else, we would not have accepted them again.

Meanwhile, Shelley commented by saying: I have indeed received a note from the security guard regarding the incident "interpreted by the Emiratis as disrespect... it was a private event unrelated to my work as an ambassador, and based on the request addressed to me, I took matters into consideration."