Haaretz: UAE president warned Netanyahu of major Hamas attack before Oct. 7
UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about a possible major Hamas attack roughly 10 days before Oct. 7, 2023, but Netanyahu did not relay the warning to Israeli security services, Haaretz reported. Netanyahu has denied the report.
According to Haaretz, Mohammed bin Zayed called Netanyahu about a week and a half before the Hamas-led attack on Israel. The conversation lasted about 45 minutes and was considered so sensitive that a UAE Embassy representative reportedly brought a special secure communications device to Netanyahu's office for the call.
Netanyahu did not inform Israeli security services about the conversation afterward, Haaretz reported.
A senior official in Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency told the newspaper that knowing about the warning could have changed how the agency assessed other intelligence it had received.
"Had we known about the warning, there is a possibility that it would have given greater weight to the first message we received from [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar," the official said.
The Times of Israel also reported, citing its own sources, that Netanyahu had received a warning from the UAE president. The UAE Foreign Ministry neither confirmed nor denied the report.
Netanyahu rejected the allegations, calling the Haaretz report a "malicious fabrication" with a political motive and accusing the newspaper of participating in a campaign by the Israeli left ahead of elections.
The prime minister said he had instructed his lawyers to file a libel lawsuit against Haaretz and journalist Shlomi Eldar. Haaretz said it stands by its reporting.
Netanyahu has maintained that he had no advance knowledge of the planned Oct. 7 attack and has blamed former Israeli security chiefs for failing to warn him despite receiving intelligence signals in the hours before it began.