The article, by the pro-Israeli reformed Islamic extremist Ed Husain, was shared without comment by bin Zayed. The tweet was immediately welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who retweeted with the words, “I welcome the closer relations between Israel and many Arab states. The time has come for normalisation and peace.”

Husain’s article claimed that a new geopolitical order was taking shape in the Middle East with Israel and the Arab states facing a common threat from Iran.

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"New maps of the Muslim mind are being drawn and old hatreds are on the run", Husain claimed, saying that Israel was now being seen as a "benign neighbour" by Arab states in contrast to the "menace of Shiite political Islamism" represented by Iran.

The article also spoke approvingly of the suppression of the "fanatical" Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and described the Arab-Israeli wars of the 1960s as an "anti-Semitic craze to destroy Israel".

The Arab-Israeli conflict broke out in 1948 after Zionist militias ethnically cleansed the majority of Palestinians – approximately 750,000 people - from their homeland. Their descendants remain refugees in the countries surrounding Israel to this day.



Thousands of Palestinians were also killed in massacres such as the one which took place in Deir Yassin.

Israel continues to occupy the West Bank while besieging and regularly launching brutal attacks on the Gaza Strip, in violation of international law.



The peace process between Israel and the Palestinians has stalled amid Israel's unwillingness to recognise Palestinian rights to self-determination and withdraw from the West Bank.

Recently the UAE has been increasingly normalising ties with Israel, welcoming Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz in August and allowing Israel to participate in the Dubai Expo earlier this month.