The Scene
With plentiful security and Kosher-marked food at an out-of-the-way Hyatt in Dubai, one of Israel’s top venture capital firms last week trotted out some of its portfolio companies that continued to do business in the UAE during the Gaza war.
The gathering of some 400 entrepreneurs, executives, and investors in Dubai was a rare public outing for the Israeli business community in the Gulf. Jerusalem-based venture capital firm JVP is now looking to “go bigger” in the UAE, founder and chairman Erel Margalit told Semafor, as business between the two countries enters a more open and cooperative post-Gaza war era.
“We waited for a moment, where we can get more than just one-on-one or two-on-two meetings, but get a variety of people — entrepreneurs and managers from our different companies in order to see what can be done here in a bigger way,” Margalit said.
Cooperation between the two countries began to recover after last year’s ceasefire deal in Gaza. The fourth quarter of 2025 saw an increase in both the number of Israeli delegations visiting the UAE and the caliber of engagements, a senior Israeli government official told Semafor.
“That momentum is expected to translate into stronger economic cooperation in 2026. We anticipate deals to span sectors where Israel has an edge, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, fintech, health care, and renewable energy,” the official said.
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At the event, JVP promoted the idea of AI boosting economic collaboration between the two countries. The more than 30-year-old firm is considering opening an AI-focused location in Dubai, similar to other centers it has opened in New York, where it backs fintech and cybercrime companies, and in Galilee, Israel, where it’s focused on agriculture and food security.
“AI is no longer just a horizontal tool or just a consumer novelty. It is becoming the economic backbone of our most critical industries. The UAE understands this shift and is choosing to lead,” Margalit said onstage.
JVP has a dozen portfolio companies with operations in the UAE — Thetaray sells anti-money laundering software to UAE banks, for example — but Margalit sees a lot of untapped potential.
He has for years seen the UAE as a gateway for Israeli entrepreneurs to tap vast new markets across Africa, Asia, and the wider Middle East. Shortly after the Abraham Accords were signed in 2020, he chartered a plane from Tel Aviv to Dubai for executives from his fund’s top portfolio companies for a four-day visit, The New York Times reported at the time.
But momentum stalled after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The two-year war that followed had a muting effect on deals between Israel and the UAE, as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza created a PR catastrophe for Israelis in the Gulf.
While flights between the two countries continued throughout the war — and were often full — meetings between businesspeople were mostly small, closed-door gatherings and deals stopped being announced.
Margalit, a former Knesset lawmaker, sees the tide shifting: “Business has the power to demonstrate what cooperation looks like when politics struggle,” he told those gathered in Dubai.
Mohammed Sergie contributed to this report.
Notable
- The UAE was reportedly the mystery buyer in a $2.3 billion deal last year with Israeli defense electronics company Elbit Systems, Jerusalem Post reported.