Mon 19 January 2026:
Israel and the United Arab Emirates were reportedly in cahoots since the early 2000s to build commercial ties, long before the Abraham Accords were signed between the two nations in 2020 that officially “normalised” their partnership, with disgraced billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein playing a key role in brokering the ties, according to a report by Drop Site.
In the final two decades of his life, Epstein served as an unofficial intermediary between the two countries, using his close friendship with Sultan Sulayem, chairman of Dubai Ports World.
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Epstein’s correspondence with Sulayem, who has close ties to the ruling Emirati families, reveal that the American financier had been trying to get him to meet former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak to strengthen ties between the two countries.
Sulayem and Epstein were in a close personal relationship that went beyond business, so much so that Epstein had once publicly claimed that “he was basically in charge” of the port, the report claimed.
DP World is a UAE-based global company that offers port terminal operations and logistics services.
The report also alleged that Israel and the UAE “quietly built extensive intelligence” decades before the Abraham Accords in 2020, with Barak and Sulayem meeting on several occasions at the behest of Epstein.
During the mid-2010s, Epstein arranged meetings between Sulayem and Barak, saying it would be a chance for the former Israeli prime minister to become closer with the Dubai ruler and further advance Israeli security and diplomatic interests.
“I tnk you should meet. He is the right hand of maktoum (Ruler of Dubai),” Epstein’s leaked emails dated June 18, 2013 read.
Then came the meeting Epstein tried to arrange for Sulayem to invest in Israeli logistics infrastructure.
Sulayem’s investment in Israeli cybersecurity firm Carbyne
On July 4, 2013, Epstein emailed Ehud Barak a news article about foreign investment in Israel’s ports, asking if it might interest Sulayem. Barak felt the idea was too early, saying it would be more realistic only if a genuine peace process began or after major political changes in the Middle East. Still, Barak encouraged Epstein to keep building the relationship.
“I think it’s a little bit too early. Probably once (and IF) we’ll start getting deeper into a sincere peace process. Or alternatively after the next revolution on either side of the ME barricades,” Barak said.
“I think we have to think harder on how to leverage this acquaintance,” he added.
In June 2015, both parties met again at the St Petersburg summer conference, the details of which were again handled by Epstein.
The two countries’ relationship continued to thrive, and on August 5, 2018, Sulayem emailed Epstein showing interest in Carbyne, an Israeli cybersecurity firm funded by Epstein and chaired by Barak, that enabled emergency dispatchers and security agencies to access precise location data and live audio and video feeds from mobile phones.
Although the Drop Site report could not confirm if Carbyne was utilised in DP World-associated port operations or in Dubai, soon after the Abraham Accords normalisation, public reporting indicated UAE investors’ involvement in Carbyne.
The “investors” page on Carbyne’s website shows Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador to the United States. Otaiba is believed to have strong connections with former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director David Petraeus, who is also included in Carbyne’s list of investors.
Out-of-closet ties
The ties between the two countries became personal when Epstein helped provide therapists and top-tier Israeli medical care for Sulayem’s daughter, who had become non-verbal following a major ailment.
The friendship between the two men continued until Epstein was arrested for the second time on charges of sex trafficking in July 2019, and his subsequent death in jail a month later.
After the signing of the Abraham Accords, Sulayem signed a memorandum of understanding for DP World to establish a “maritime service between Eilat in Israel and Jebel Ali in Dubai,” while assessing the potential of making Israeli ports.
Former Israeli PM Barak, in 2022, while addressing the Abraham Accords, said, “I’m glad that the Emirates and Bahrain went ‘out of the closet’ and are ready to formalise relationships with us, and I hope that others will follow. It’s a positive development — of course, it’s not a real peace, it’s not a major breakthrough. We know these people for 25 years, and we have a very intensive relationship with them in many arenas.”
Israel’s recognition of Somaliland – another layer of ties between the two nations
The move in Somaliland adds a new layer to the growing ties between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi.
Israel’s recognition of Somaliland (which broke away from Somalia in 1991) on December 26, 2025, made it the first and only country in the world to do so, with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) calling it a “dangerous precedent.”
Reuters reported on January 13 that DP World were continuing in the Berbera port in Somalia’s Somaliland region as regional tensions were intensifying. The Somali government had earlier announced it would revoke all agreements with the UAE, accusing it of undermining its sovereignty.
