According to Israeli news outlet i24 News, Bahrain, the UAE, and Israel have hosted bilateral meetings to work towards setting up joint cyber defenses, with the plan calling to equip themselves with a so-called ‘Cyber Iron Dome.’

The three allied nations say they want to bolster cooperation in the field of cyber intelligence to prevent cyber attacks from regional adversaries such as Iran.

The head of the Israeli National Cyber Directorate Gaby Portnoy, told Kan TV: “This is a historic meeting [in which] a statement by the parties [issued] regarding cooperation in the cyber field against common enemies.”

In recent months, Israel expanded its ties with Bahrain and the UAE in various fields, with Tel Aviv and Manama bound to sign a free trade agreement by the end of the year and the Israeli investment platform OurCrowd opening an artificial intelligence center in the UAE’s capital with an initial investment of $60 million.

Bilateral trade between Israel and the UAE vastly increased this year, while trade between Tel Aviv and Bahrain has lagged, totaling $7.5 million.

Both Abu Dhabi and Manama have also begun to warm up to Israel’s far-right incoming government, as the embassies of both nations hosted the extremist leaders of the Religious Zionist Party, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

Despite this, the UAE’s Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed criticized Israel for appointing Ben Gvir as incoming defense minister, primarily due to his anti-Arab sentiments.

In July, Israel’s outgoing Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced Israel had signed more than $3 billion in arms agreements with regional, regional allies since the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020.

Earlier this year, Israeli media disclosed that the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco had expressed an interest in acquiring Israel’s Iron Dome, Green Pine, and Arrow missile defense systems.