UAE’s Evolving Official Discourse on the Israel-Palestine Conflict

Abstract

The escalation of the 7 October 2023 Gaza War, resulting in the catastrophic condition of Gaza and unprecedented numbers of Palestinian fatalities, has put the UAE in a difficult position due to its normalization of diplomatic relations with Israel and its longstanding support of the Palestinian people and their right to statehood for the settlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict. This study examines the extent to which the geopolitical dynamics of the conflict in Gaza have reshaped the UAE’s official media discourse about its relations with Israel, Palestine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and pan-Arab issues. This study’s main research question is: How has the Gaza War impacted the portrayal of UAE’s posture on its relations with Israel and Palestine in official UAE government statements on its official Emirates Media Agency (WAM) from January 2022 to May 2024? The answer to this question is important in understanding how the UAE balances, via its official statements on WAM, both domestic and international political security dilemmas and its geopolitical interests in regional peace and stability, and the mitigation of complex and converging challenges through peaceful means of diplomacy and international cooperation. This study employs a content and discourse analysis approach, focusing on a dataset of WAM articles before and after the October 7 Gaza War to conduct a longitudinal investigation of UAE’s evolving media discourse.

Date of Award	Apr 2025
Original language	American English
Supervisor	Brendon Cannon (Supervisor)