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The UAE's increasing courtship of Europe's far right
As right-wing populism reshapes Europe, the UAE is cultivating alliances and courting media figures under the guise of combatting political Islam
20.01.2026
By Jonathan Fenton-Harvey*
Source:https://www.newarab.com/analysis/uaes-increasing-courtship-europes-far-right
The rise of right-wing populism has become a defining feature of Europe’s political landscape, with anti-migrant, anti-Muslim, and nationalist rhetoric gaining traction across multiple countries.
While attention has focused on the role of governments such as the United States and Russia in amplifying this discourse, as well as business figures like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, another external actor has been engaging Europe’s culture wars: the United Arab Emirates.
In December 2025, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage visited the UAE on a trip funded by Emirati authorities, with flights, accommodation, and hospitality declared in the UK register of members’ interests.
During the visit, Farage met senior officials in Abu Dhabi, with discussions reportedly covering security and political issues, including opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood. Farage has since said he would designate the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation, a position long held by the UAE, should he win the next UK general election.
Around the same period, British far-right agitator Tommy Robinson controversially travelled to the UAE, prompting online backlash given his record of anti-Islam activism and the country’s otherwise strict hate speech and blasphemy laws.
In mid-2025, the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research removed UK universities from its list of approved institutions for state-funded scholarships, a move that halted new government-backed study placements for Emirati students in Britain.
According to media reports, Emirati officials cited concerns to British counterparts about ideological exposure on UK campuses, particularly relating to the Muslim Brotherhood.
However, critics and analysts have argued that such pressure risks exploiting existing Islamophobic sentiment in the UK to advance Abu Dhabi’s campaign against the Brotherhood.
Authoritarian stability and the Muslim Brotherhood
These engagements sit within a much longer Emirati hostility towards political Islam. As early as 2006, President Mohammed bin Zayed reportedly warned US diplomats that “if an election were held tomorrow, the [UAE] Muslim Brotherhood would win”.
Many people saw the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 as a hopeful chance for democratic change across the region. In contrast, the UAE watched the events with trepidation, seeing them as platforms for the Muslim Brotherhood to gain power, as Brotherhood-affiliated factions won elections in Tunisia and Egypt.
Meanwhile, the UAE launched a sweeping crackdown on the al-Islah party in the UAE, treating political Islamic groups as an existential threat to monarchical rule, a doctrine later formalised in its decision to designate the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation.
“At the core is an ideological project: MbZ’s deep state sees any organised political Islam as an existential rival to ‘authoritarian stability,’” Andreas Krieg, associate professor at King’s College London, told The New Arab.
“The ‘Brotherhood’ bogeyman has become a meta-narrative designed to capture a wide range of critics, some Muslim, some not, who advocate political liberalisation and oppose the Emirati counternarrative,” he told TNA.
Opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood is a key component of the United Arab Emirates' foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa.
Abu Dhabi provided support to counter-revolutionary groups opposed to the Brotherhood, including notably endorsing Egypt’s military overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the head of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood branch, and reportedly backing Tunisia’s secular Nidaa Tounes party as an alternative to the Ennahda movement.
These priorities have remained consistent over time. The UAE subsequently engaged with individuals such as Libya’s Khalifa Haftar and Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), perceiving them as strategic balances to Islamist groups.
While it is true that commercial interests have played a significant role in shaping Emirati foreign policy, particularly with regard to securing gold mines in Sudan, a factor contributing to the ongoing conflict, Abu Dhabi's regional alliances have also been consistently guided by mutual opposition to political Islam.
Shaping Europe's political discourse
Moreover, analysts now warn that this is a key factor behind the Emirati courting of European political figures.
“In Europe, that ideological frame is operationalised through lobbying infrastructure - elite courting, engagement on the far right, think tank engagement and ‘pundit’ support,” said Dr Krieg.
This strategy is reinforced through information operations that intersect with Europe’s populist ecosystem.
Marc Owen Jones, professor at Northwestern University in Qatar and researcher on disinformation, told The New Arab that UAE-linked disinformation networks deliberately tap into far-right narratives in Europe, leveraging existing Islamophobic tropes to advance an agenda formally focused on the Muslim Brotherhood but which often spills into broader anti-Muslim hostility.
He also warns that such activity frequently passes through mainstream institutions ill-equipped to identify it, allowing state-aligned messaging to circulate under the appearance of independent expertise.
Those observing Gulf-linked information operations have warned of the emergence of tightly coordinated disinfluencer ecosystems operating across Europe.
Jones has also described how groups of young Emirati commentators surfaced at nearly the same time on social media, fake news sites, and Western policy forums, frequently using similar production methods, sharing amplification networks, and appearing on the same institutional platforms.
What may appear to be an independent collection of voices is more accurately characterised as a media ecosystem structured to introduce state-aligned perspectives into European discourse, with the Muslim Brotherhood often positioned as a key explanatory concern regarding matters such as migration and security.
Central to this network is Amjad Taha, an Abu Dhabi-based figure whom analysts describe as a disinfluencer: an individual whose prominence and perceived authority persist despite a documented record of spreading false or misleading information, and whose messaging often aligns with Emirati and allied security interests.
Right-wing media in the UK, in search of what they frame as “moderate” Muslim voices, have platformed Taha, contributing to the spread of harmful talking points.
In 2025, GB News was forced to pay “substantial damages” after broadcasting false claims made by Taha that the UK-based humanitarian aid charity Islamic Relief had funded “terrorists”.
Those allegations were also reported by the Daily Mail before being retracted. In January 2026, Taha additionally authored an opinion piece in The Times warning of alleged Muslim Brotherhood activity on UK university campuses, a move critics say echoed and reinforced the UAE’s broader narrative given its cutting of scholarships for Emirati students in the UK.
Influence networks and political hedging
From the state level, the UAE has sought to influence European debate by engaging think tanks to promote security and economic narratives aligned with its interests, blurring lines between research, lobbying and strategic communications.
Left-wing French politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon asserted in his blog in December 2025 that his party was targeted by Emirati-linked influence efforts, describing France as a site of foreign interference aimed at discrediting critics of UAE policy.
By contrast, in France, questions have also been raised over links between Marine Le Pen’s political circle and financial arrangements involving UAE-based banks, adding to broader concerns about indirect Emirati entanglement in European political ecosystems.
Such claims form part of wider allegations that Emirati-linked influence efforts have sought to discredit European politicians seen as too accommodating of political Islam, including figures primarily focused on opposing Islamophobia.
In addition to influencing ideology and narrative, there is practical political reasoning at play, suggesting that Abu Dhabi is adjusting to the changing political climate in Europe.
“The UAE also seeks to cultivate networks with right-wing actors as a hedge against their potential rise to power in countries such as France or the UK,” Sebastian Sons, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient, told The New Arab.
Beyond countering the Brotherhood, Abu Dhabi seeks backing for its wider interests. After meeting Emirati officials, Nigel Farage supported Somaliland’s independence, and Tommy Robinson endorsed South Yemen's Southern Transitional Council (STC), stances reflecting alignment with Emirati foreign policy, especially its support of separatist groups in the Horn of Africa and southern Arabia.
It signals that Abu Dhabi seeks to gain more allies in a changing European political landscape.
Ultimately, Abu Dhabi appears to be strategically engaging with Europe’s emerging far-right movement by promoting an anti-Islamist security narrative that increasingly merges counter-extremism themes with elements of populism and heightened scrutiny of Muslim civic life.
Although the future direction of Europe’s far right remains uncertain, it’s evident that external actors are influencing the context in which these discussions are taking place, with implications reaching beyond the Muslim Brotherhood and affecting broader Muslim communities within Europe.
*Jonathan Fenton-Harvey is a journalist and researcher who focuses on conflict, geopolitics, and humanitarian issues in the Middle East and North Africa.
Follow him on Twitter: @jfentonharvey
Edited by Charlie Hoyle
As right-
20.01.2026
By Jonathan Fenton-
The rise of right-
While attention has focused on the role of governments such as the United States and Russia in amplifying this discourse, as well as business figures like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, another external actor has been engaging Europe’s culture wars: the United Arab Emirates.
In December 2025, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage visited the UAE on a trip funded by Emirati authorities, with flights, accommodation, and hospitality declared in the UK register of members’ interests.
During the visit, Farage met senior officials in Abu Dhabi, with discussions reportedly covering security and political issues, including opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood. Farage has since said he would designate the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation, a position long held by the UAE, should he win the next UK general election.
Around the same period, British far-
In mid-
According to media reports, Emirati officials cited concerns to British counterparts about ideological exposure on UK campuses, particularly relating to the Muslim Brotherhood.
However, critics and analysts have argued that such pressure risks exploiting existing Islamophobic sentiment in the UK to advance Abu Dhabi’s campaign against the Brotherhood.
Authoritarian stability and the Muslim Brotherhood
These engagements sit within a much longer Emirati hostility towards political Islam. As early as 2006, President Mohammed bin Zayed reportedly warned US diplomats that “if an election were held tomorrow, the [UAE] Muslim Brotherhood would win”.
Many people saw the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 as a hopeful chance for democratic change across the region. In contrast, the UAE watched the events with trepidation, seeing them as platforms for the Muslim Brotherhood to gain power, as Brotherhood-
Meanwhile, the UAE launched a sweeping crackdown on the al-
“At the core is an ideological project: MbZ’s deep state sees any organised political Islam as an existential rival to ‘authoritarian stability,’” Andreas Krieg, associate professor at King’s College London, told The New Arab.
“The ‘Brotherhood’ bogeyman has become a meta-
Opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood is a key component of the United Arab Emirates' foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa.
Abu Dhabi provided support to counter-
These priorities have remained consistent over time. The UAE subsequently engaged with individuals such as Libya’s Khalifa Haftar and Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), perceiving them as strategic balances to Islamist groups.
While it is true that commercial interests have played a significant role in shaping Emirati foreign policy, particularly with regard to securing gold mines in Sudan, a factor contributing to the ongoing conflict, Abu Dhabi's regional alliances have also been consistently guided by mutual opposition to political Islam.
Shaping Europe's political discourse
Moreover, analysts now warn that this is a key factor behind the Emirati courting of European political figures.
“In Europe, that ideological frame is operationalised through lobbying infrastructure -
This strategy is reinforced through information operations that intersect with Europe’s populist ecosystem.
Marc Owen Jones, professor at Northwestern University in Qatar and researcher on disinformation, told The New Arab that UAE-
He also warns that such activity frequently passes through mainstream institutions ill-
Those observing Gulf-
Jones has also described how groups of young Emirati commentators surfaced at nearly the same time on social media, fake news sites, and Western policy forums, frequently using similar production methods, sharing amplification networks, and appearing on the same institutional platforms.
What may appear to be an independent collection of voices is more accurately characterised as a media ecosystem structured to introduce state-
Central to this network is Amjad Taha, an Abu Dhabi-
Right-
In 2025, GB News was forced to pay “substantial damages” after broadcasting false claims made by Taha that the UK-
Those allegations were also reported by the Daily Mail before being retracted. In January 2026, Taha additionally authored an opinion piece in The Times warning of alleged Muslim Brotherhood activity on UK university campuses, a move critics say echoed and reinforced the UAE’s broader narrative given its cutting of scholarships for Emirati students in the UK.
Influence networks and political hedging
From the state level, the UAE has sought to influence European debate by engaging think tanks to promote security and economic narratives aligned with its interests, blurring lines between research, lobbying and strategic communications.
Left-
By contrast, in France, questions have also been raised over links between Marine Le Pen’s political circle and financial arrangements involving UAE-
Such claims form part of wider allegations that Emirati-
In addition to influencing ideology and narrative, there is practical political reasoning at play, suggesting that Abu Dhabi is adjusting to the changing political climate in Europe.
“The UAE also seeks to cultivate networks with right-
Beyond countering the Brotherhood, Abu Dhabi seeks backing for its wider interests. After meeting Emirati officials, Nigel Farage supported Somaliland’s independence, and Tommy Robinson endorsed South Yemen's Southern Transitional Council (STC), stances reflecting alignment with Emirati foreign policy, especially its support of separatist groups in the Horn of Africa and southern Arabia.
It signals that Abu Dhabi seeks to gain more allies in a changing European political landscape.
Ultimately, Abu Dhabi appears to be strategically engaging with Europe’s emerging far-
Although the future direction of Europe’s far right remains uncertain, it’s evident that external actors are influencing the context in which these discussions are taking place, with implications reaching beyond the Muslim Brotherhood and affecting broader Muslim communities within Europe.
*Jonathan Fenton-
Edited by Charlie Hoyle