Israel’s ambassador to the UAE is being summoned home from his post over “undignified” behaviour at an Emirati bar that upset the UAE, according to Hebrew media reports.
Israel’s government was forced to recall its ambassador to the Gulf state, Yossef Avraham Shelley, after the UAE said it was no longer willing to accept him as ambassador, Israel’s Channel 12 news reported on Tuesday.
Hebrew news site N12 reported earlier that Shelley antagonised the UAE by showing up to a bar in the Gulf state with several Israelis, including women, and acting in a way that UAE officials told Israel was “unacceptable and even harmed our dignity”.
The UAE normalised ties with Israel in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords brokered by US President Donald Trump. Abu Dhabi has emerged as Israel’s closest Arab partner in the region amid an uproar over Israel’s war on Gaza, which leading human rights groups and scholars have declared is a genocide.
The UAE is the one Arab country that Israel’s foreign minister has been able to visit since the war in Gaza erupted. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar travelled to the UAE in January 2025 before a temporary ceasefire in Gaza was reached.
The UAE’s move would be remarkable in its own right. The tiny Gulf state is home to 10 million people, of whom just 10 percent are Emirati citizens. The country counts South Asian labourers, British expats, Russian oligarchs and flashy influencers among its residents. Dubai is known for being the Gulf region’s nightlife capital.
Hebrew media reported last week that Shelley was out on a Friday night in Abu Dhabi with friends and acted in an “undignified” manner that “crossed the boundaries of personal space” on Friday evening.
Shelley previously served as Israeli ambassador to Brazil, where he was at the centre of two scandals.
In one case, Shelley was photographed having dinner with former Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro. The image of their dinner on Instagram appeared to show lobster scribbled out in black. Jewish kosher diet rules prohibit the consumption of shellfish.
In 2023, Haaretz reported that Shelley personally responded to an Israeli visa inquiry by a Brazilian woman. He told her in correspondence and in video chats that she needed to meet him in person before he would help her obtain a visa to visit Israel.
In a video call with her, Shelley appeared shirtless and lying on a bed.
“When I turned on the camera, I saw he was lying on the bed, sweating,” the woman recounted. “He said he’d just returned from a walk. It was very inappropriate. I asked him if he’d rather talk later, and he said, ‘No, let’s talk now.’ He asked to meet with me in person and invited me to dinner in Brasilia. I felt pressured and harassed.”
Shelley was later named the director general of the prime minister’s office. Shelley was named ambassador to the UAE in November 2024.
“Yossi served as a very, very effective ambassador in Brazil,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time. “He made connections there not only with the president of Brazil, but also with the Brazilian media and did a wonderful job there. He also did important and difficult work in the Prime Minister’s Office during this period.”
Source: Middle East Eye.
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