This interview was likely one of the most-viewed videos in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates over the past week.
The interview is in Arabic. I wish I could remember the name of the AI service that translates YouTube videos and provides English subtitles. I came across one but forgot the name. If you know it, please drop it in the comments.
It features Emirati political scientist Dr. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla in conversation with Dr. Rabab Al-Mahdy on the podcast “El-Hal Eah?” (“What is the Solution?”).
The podcast is produced by Alternative Policy Solutions (APS), a public policy research project at the American University in Cairo (AUC).
For me, “El-Hal Eah?” has been one of the most important interview podcasts in Egypt in recent years, tackling a wide range of issues—from politics and economics to history and law. This episode marks the opening of the podcast’s seventh season.
The interview was recorded in Cairo during Ramadan, just days before the outbreak of the Israeli-American war on Iran. It runs for over an hour.
For those unfamiliar with him, Dr. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla is one of the UAE’s most prominent political science professors and commentators on social media.
Most notably, he previously served as an advisor to Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed (MBZ), the president of the United Arab Emirates.
Abdulla is also known for his book The Gulf’s Moment, in which he argues that leadership in the Arab world has shifted from traditional powers—such as Egypt, Syria, and Iraq—to rising Gulf states, particularly the UAE.
He appeared on the show to address accusations that the UAE has become the “Sparta of the Middle East.”
Rabab El-Mahdi is an associate professor of political science at the American University in Cairo (AUC). She currently leads AUC’s Alternative Policy Solutions (APS) research project.
Al-Mahdy succeeded in bringing into mainstream Arabic media discussions that had largely been circulating informally on social media—particularly regarding the evolving rivalry, or “frenemy” relationship, between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
She raised openly that issue and its juicy details, including tensions between Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and Mohamed bin Zayed (MBZ), as well as how Saudi voices have framed this dynamic.
Notably, Saudi academic and public intellectual Ahmed Al-Tuwaijri recently appeared on David Hearst’s podcast on Middle East Eye, where he accused the UAE of acting as “Israel’s Trojan horse” in the region.
Abdulla did not deny the current “frenemy” dynamic between the two countries, and he accused Al-Tuwaijri of being affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
In fact, he went further, stating outright that Saudi Arabia is jealous of the UAE’s success in the economy, media, and tourism. It was suffering from the "big brother syndrome", according to him.
Al-Mahdy challenged him, questioning how Saudi Arabia could be jealous of a much smaller country, describing the UAE as more of an offshoot in comparison.
That remark triggered an unexpected reaction.
Suddenly, I found Saudi users on Twitter celebrating Al-Mahdy—the Egyptian leftist, pro–January 25 political science professor—as a bold journalist who stood up to what they saw as Emirati arrogance.
This came amid an ongoing Saudi online campaign against Egypt and Egyptians over their stance on the war with Iran.
Many Saudis who had been criticizing Egypt shifted tone, praising Al-Mahdy for, in their view, “putting the UAE in its place.” Clips and memes of her remarks quickly circulated.
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| "The UAE looks on the map like an outgrowth of KSA" quote became a meme |
This tells you how much the Saudi-Emirati feud has reached. It is like an open secret.
Beyond the interview itself, I also noticed that Dr. Abdulla began sharing and retweeting praise from Emirati users and others, alongside criticism and attacks against Al-Mahdy.
This came across as somewhat unprofessional, especially given that the two appeared to have parted on good terms. In fact, before the interview went viral, he had described it as the most important one he had done so far this year.
And that was not the only part of the episode that went viral.
There was also a segment about Egypt that struck a nerve, especially amid the ongoing Gulf media campaign against Egypt and Egyptians.
The veteran Emirati political science professor claimed that the UAE had “saved” Egypt from the fate of Syria and from collapse after the 2013 Arab Spring, citing it as an example of how the Emirates serves as a force of stability in the Arab world.
Rabab El-Mahdy pushed back firmly, arguing that a nation like Egypt—with its history and size—is far too complex to be “saved” by a state like UAE.
She added that, as a political science professor, he knows Egypt cannot be compared to Syria—whether in terms of social composition, sectarian dynamics, military structures, or even the nature of their regimes. While acknowledging that Egyptian governments have been authoritarian, she stressed that they are fundamentally different from Bashar al-Assad’s Baathist regime.
Abdulla, however, stood his ground. In an attempt to win the exchange, he played what he seemed to consider his strongest card: Egypt’s president had publicly thanked the UAE for “saving” Egypt.
That, however, did not make Al-Mahdy back down.
“It’s more a matter of exaggerated courtesy from the president—something I don’t necessarily agree with. If you come here and I tell you that you’ve lit up the place, does that mean you actually lit it, or that it was already lit?”
Many Egyptians—including some pro-government voices—praised Al-Mahdy for her response. They also made memes and short videos.
There was also criticism that she leaned into a somewhat chauvinistic, “7,000-year civilization” argument. But from a political science perspective, her point still stands.
The past few years may feel like a wrinkle in Egypt’s long history—one that has seen far darker periods, long before the UAE existed—yet the country has repeatedly managed to endure and recover.
What the UAE and other Gulf Arab states did—“standing with Egypt” and providing financial support—was far from altruistic. They acted primarily to protect their national security, or more accurately, their thrones, from the fallout of the Arab Spring, especially after the events in Bahrain.
Moreover, they didn’t just provide aid—they secured returns on their investments.
The Gulf states, particularly the UAE, significantly increased their economic footprint under the El-Sisi administration, injecting unprecedented investments and acquiring major assets in Egypt. The UAE alone now controls key ports, stretches of the North Coast, and several major financial companies.
For them, it was far more than a saving Arab sistrer country situation—it was a strategic consolidation of influence and security.
It is unclear whether he is following the current situation in the West Bank—referred to by Israel as “Judea and Samaria”—where settlement expansion, displacement, and de facto annexation have been ongoing for months.
Needless to say, Rabab El-Mahdy pushed back, defending Palestine and describing Hamas as a resistance movement opposing Israeli occupation.
Some commentators circulated an older clip of her making similar remarks, presenting it as a major “revelation,” even though it had already been available for months on the podcast’s YouTube channel.
Still, that was not the peak moment.
The most controversial exchange came when Abdulla stated that “even God can’t change Netanyahu’s mind,” in response to Al-Mahdy’s question about why Abu Dhabi had not used its influence to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
For many Muslims, such a statement is deeply shocking; in fact, it would be striking to followers of any Abrahamic faith. Abdulla, who is a practising Muslim, repeated the phrase twice during the episode.
Personally, I see it as part of his recent rhetorical style—he has a history of making exaggerated statements. At one point, he even said he trusts the Emirati state so completely that, if it sent him to hell, it would bring him back.
Al-Mahdy also questioned him about the UAE’s role in the Yemen conflict and its support for South Yemen. He responded that South Yemen had once been an independent state and that the union with the North had ultimately failed.
Regarding Sudan, Abdulla dismissed accusations that the UAE has supported or armed the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), despite documented reports from international organizations. He does not believe those organizations and he takes his government’s word for granted.
While he did not entirely deny support, he argued that the UAE was not the only country involved, pointing to other African states that have backed the RSF and hosted its leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti”, even treating him as a head of state.
I wish she had asked him about reports concerning Colombian mercenaries.
I also wish she had pressed him further on other regional issues—such as the UAE’s role in Somalia and Ethiopia, as well as its relationships with elements of the European far right.
Personally, I feel a sense of disappointment when it comes to Dr. Abdelkhaleq Abdulla.
I’ve followed him for years on Twitter, where he once stood out as a pan-Arab Emirati academic who believed in pan-Arabism, pan-Islamism, democracy, human rights, and the ideals of the Arab Spring.
That was who he was—at least until 2017.
In early that year, he tweeted: “If only we had—in the Emirates of Tolerance—freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and political freedoms, just as we have freedom of belief, freedom of trade, personal freedom, and social freedoms.” Shortly after, he disappeared, only to reappear about ten days later, saying he had been on a sudden trip.
According to human rights organizations, however, he had been detained.
Since then—particularly after Mohamed bin Zayed formally became president in 2022—Abdulla appears to have undergone a significant transformation, becoming the figure we see today.
Many long-time Arab Twitter users still remember the pre-2017 version of the Emirati professor, and some continue to wonder whether that version might one day return.
Because the return of that version would, in many ways, signal the UAE’s return to the broader Arab fold.
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