The U.S. Mission to the United Arab Emirates published a warning on Friday, urging American citizens “to avoid locations in the UAE associated with the Jewish and Israeli communities, including places of worship.”
The alert came amid information “indicating threats toward the Jewish and Israeli communities in the UAE,” the mission stated.
The Israeli National Security Council issued a travel warning on July 31 for Israelis visiting the UAE, citing “increased intensity” in operations by “terrorist organisations,” including “the Iranians, Hamas, Hezbollah and global Jihad,” attacking “Israeli targets, motivated by Israel’s military operations in the Middle East.”
That includes “revenge following Operation Rising Lion, in addition to the anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian incitement, which has intensified since the start of Operation Iron Swords, and even more so in response to Hamas’s starvation campaign,” the Israeli council said.
Despite the warning, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said that its diplomatic missions in Abu Dhabi and Dubai remain open.
Israel and the UAE established ties in 2020 as part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords. The Gulf state’s Israeli and Jewish communities have grown and become more prominent in the ensuing years.
Three Uzbekistan nationals were sentenced to death in the UAE in March for murdering an Israeli-Moldovan Chabad rabbi, Zvi Kogan, whom they abducted and killed in November 2024, the Abu Dhabi Federal Appeal Court ruled. The court said that a “terrorist purpose” was behind the murder.”
