LONDON (Dispatches) -- The UAE's top diplomat in America sought a battle damage assessment of the occupying regime of Israel's 2012 eight-day war on Gaza from the "father" of the Zionist regime’s Iron Dome missile system, according to leaked emails obtained by Middle East Eye.
Yousef Otaiba was introduced to Uzi Rubin by a senior pro-Israel analyst in Washington, although it was unclear if the two ever met. But the emails, obtained by the GlobalLeaks hacking group, show growing military and diplomatic ties between the Persian Gulf kingdom and the occupying regime of Israel.
Robert Satloff, the executive director of a Washington-based pro-Israel think-tank, wrote to Yousef Otaiba on 19 December 2012 to suggest a meeting with Uzi Rubin, a former Israeli brigadier general who led the Zionist missile organization. Within three days, Rubin and Otaiba were emailing directly.
The exchange came a month after Israel's operations against targets in Gaza, which according to UN figures killed 174 Palestinians, 107 of them civilians including 33 children. There were six Zionist casualties.
Rubin visited Washington to praise the alleged success of the Iron Dome system during the eight-day war. He told a forum of guests: "In strategic terms, the recent conflict was largely a 'push-button' war."  
Satloff, who hosted Rubin, wrote afterwards to Otaiba: "You were on my mind yesterday when I heard a compelling presentation by the father of Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system, Uzi Rubin.
"He closed his presentation with comments about the applicability of the system to (Persian) Gulf states facing Iranian missiles. I assume your side has heard from him and his colleagues directly; if that's not the case, I can certainly set something up."  
Otaiba replied "I have not met with Uzi. I would be interested in hearing how it did in Gaza recently. I read the press commentary on its performance but would be interested to hear more specifically."  
Satloff then sought permission to introduce Rubin to enable a future meeting, to which Otaiba agreed. The communications appeared to quickly pay off - in an email direct to Rubin on 22 December, 2012, Otaiba said: "Let me know when you're next in DC."
Rubin replied that he had already returned home, and signed off: "Perhaps next time. Regards - Uzi."
Satloff did not deny his email exchange with Otaiba. In an email to the MEE, he said: "I do not know if the people in question ever met but I do not believe the specific meeting to which you refer ever happened.”  
The contacts between Otaiba and Rubin are among a number of conversations captured between the diplomat and Satloff, who has long served the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a spinoff of the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) pressure group whose analysts and scholars are almost exclusively pro-Zionist.
Satloff opened his note by thanking the UAE ambassador for "the generous new year's gift", without specifying what he had been given.
Satloff solicited Otaiba in February 2012 for an exclusive dinner, that he can feel free to pay for: "This is a bit presumptuous but would consider hosting our most important lay leaders - our board of directors - for dinner at your home? They (about 15 or so) will be in town for a meeting... on the evening of Tuesday, 6 March."  
Sensing opportunity, Otaiba replied: "That's a great idea. Happy to host such a powerful group on such a critical topic. My only request is we keep it off the record and discreet."  
WINEP's board includes such figures as Peter Lowy, the executive director of Westfield and son of Australian billionaire and right-wing Israel supporter Frank Lowy.
It also includes its founder, Barbi Weinberg, a former AIPAC vice president. Weinberg, along with AIPAC's then-deputy director of research Martin Indyk, helped create WINEP as a separate entity in the 1980s to offer distance for their pro-Zionist policy ideas, a recognition of the "image problem" encountered by authoring U.S. policy ideas on AIPAC letterhead.
After the March 2012 dinner, Satloff wrote to Otaiba to inform him "you earned a houseful of friends last night", and heaped praise on the UAE ambassador for his "striking candor" with WINEP's board, "opening" their "eyes to the real anxiety UAE has re: Iran".  
Otaiba assured Satloff: "I truly enjoyed the conversation. My main message was the alignment of Israel and many of the Arab countries when it comes to Iran."
Satloff would not disclose who attended the dinner, but told MEE such events with a "broad range of U.S. and foreign officials" are a "regular occurrence" and that to "suggest or imply otherwise underscores the conspiratorial, rather than newsworthy tenor of your inquiry."  
Satloff would continue to seek more engagements with his Emirati friend. Since 1996 WINEP has hosted a range of Israeli military and intelligence officers as visiting fellows in its Washington offices, partly to influence Washington's debate on matters including Palestine and Iran.  
Satloff asked Otaiba to consider allowing UAE officials to work at WINEP as visiting fellows, a sign of how closely regarded the Persian Gulf country has become in the eyes of America's hawkish pro-Israel community.
Otaiba had earlier promised Satloff to "look into this one and see how our military folks respond."
The UAE does not have official diplomatic relations with the occupying regime of Israel. However, in November 2015, the government of Abu Dhabi allowed Israel to establish a diplomatic office for the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), based in the Emirati capital.   
MEE and Haaretz reported in 2015 that a private jet was flying at least twice a week between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi. A 2012 report by the French Intelligence Online website said AGT International had signed a contract worth $800m to provide Abu Dhabi's Critical National Infrastructure Authority with "surveillance cameras, electronic fences and sensors to monitor strategic infrastructure and oil fields".