Israel and the United Arab Emirates said June 25 that private companies from both countries will cooperate on developing technologies to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broke the news, tweeting, ‘’Today the health ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Israel will announce cooperation in fighting the coronavirus. This cooperation will be expressed in research and development [and] technology in areas that will improve health security throughout the region. This is the result of long and intense contacts in the last few months.’’ Speaking at a graduation ceremony for the Israeli air force’s pilot course, Netanyahu made a similar announcement.

Netanyahu might have gotten a bit carried away, or perhaps exaggerated on purpose. The United Arab Emirates did not contradict Netanyahu, but was quick to clarify that the cooperation in question refers to contracts signed by two private UAE companies with two private Israeli companies, and not direct cooperation between the two governments. The director of strategic communications at the UAE Foreign Ministry, Hend Al Otaiba, tweeted, "In light of strengthening international cooperation in the fields of research, development & technology in service of humanity, two private companies in UAE sign an agreement with two companies in Israel to develop research technology to fight COVID-19."

Shortly after the tweet, the UAE news agency WAM confirmed the agreement between the companies, saying, "This scientific and medical agreement forms part of constructive cooperation aimed at addressing the COVID-19 pandemic to safeguard the health of the region’s peoples.‘’