The UAE cannot invoke international law while violating it

The UAE cannot invoke international law while violating it Submitted by Ziyad Motala on Fri, 05/15/2026 - 17:38 Reports of torture sites in Yemen, arms transfers to Sudan and support for Israel's assault on Gaza expose the contradiction at the centre of the Emirati state's legal rhetoric Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, speaks at a press conference on the conflict in Sudan, in the UAE's Abu Dhabi, on 25 November 2025 (Amr Alfiky/Reuters) Off Quoted in Al Arabiya on 1 May 2026, Anwar Gargash , diplomatic adviser to United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, invoked "the collective international will" as the guarantor of freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz . It is a familiar register - smooth, assured, and curiously detached from the record of those who deploy it. International law is not a decorative language to be summoned when convenient and shelved when inconvenient. It is a system of obligations that binds most tightly those who claim to speak in its name. The difficulty here is not subtle. The UAE cannot plausibly present itself as a custodian of lawful order while permitting its territory to function as part of the infrastructure of an unlawful use of force, including through the hosting of US military assets used in the war on Iran and its own strikes on Iranian territory - or, in different theatres, in Sudan and Yemen . The prohibition on aggression is not an aspirational norm. It is the organising principle of the United Nations Charter, and to facilitate its breach is complicity. At some point, accumulation matters. Conduct ceases to be episodic and begins to define character. A state that repeatedly a...

Original source: Middle East Eye