Report claims the UAE’s president warned Netanyahu of a major Hamas attack 10 days before Oct. 7. His office called it ‘an absolute lie’

Benjamin Netanyahu drew sharp political criticism after a published account said the president of the United Arab Emirates alerted him to a large Hamas operation several days before the Oct. 7, 2023, assault. According to CNN, the Prime Minister’s Office called the report “an absolute lie.” Rivals treated the story as another item on a list of warnings they say went unheeded, with national elections set for October, less than two months away.

Haaretz carried the account, which rested on material prepared for a forthcoming book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruti Yuval. The newspaper said UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed telephoned Netanyahu roughly 10 days before Oct. 7. In a conversation described as lasting 45 minutes, Bin Zayed was said to have cautioned that Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, intended a major action against Israel that could produce bloodshed and unsettle the region.

The same account pointed to a mid-September 2023 message that Sinwar sent to the UAE and Israel through a Palestinian go-between, describing an approaching “earthquake.” Haaretz reported that Netanyahu reacted “relatively calmly” and told Bin Zayed that Israel stood ready for any scenario. Haaretz has revealed on X that Netanyahu has warned the outlet of taking legal action, but it stands by its reporting.

Opposition leaders demand an investigation after the Haaretz report

Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman, and Yair Golan released an uncommon joint statement. They asked for “an immediate and thorough investigation” into Netanyahu’s “failures and malfunctioning.” Their text stated, “The Israeli public is entitled to know: What did Netanyahu know, when did he know, why he didn’t update the security establishment, and why he didn’t act to protect Israeli civilians?”

Bennett said the report is “true.” On X, he wrote that the alleged failure to heed the warnings amounts to “criminal negligence.” Yair Lapid said he had issued a public warning of an attack beforehand, and that senior Israeli security officials and Egyptian officials had done the same. “If Netanyahu had fulfilled his role, the massacre would have been prevented,” Lapid said in a statement.

The Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu “did not speak with the president of the United Arab Emirates during the period in question and did not receive any warning from him. Netanyahu has faced scrutiny over his handling of warnings and peace proposals, such as when he rejected the Board of Peace roadmap for Gaza.  ”

Eldar rejected that denial. “It’s true,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I worked on this report for almost a year and a half,” he said. “I have the document, I have records, I have everything that shows that the president of the UAE called Netanyahu a week an a half before October 7 and gave him a warning that Yahya Sinwar is planning a major attack on Israel.”

The UAE Foreign Ministry released a statement Tuesday evening saying it “does not comment on media stories or speculation regarding conversations between government leaders.” The ministry did not deny that a call took place.

“When necessary, all relevant intelligence has been and continues to be communicated between the relevant entities,” the statement said. An Israeli source familiar with the matter said Netanyahu’s office sought a UAE denial of the Haaretz story, but the UAE instead limited itself to a remark about intelligence sharing.

Rivals have tried to place responsibility for Oct. 7 at the center of the campaign. More than 1,200 people were murdered that day, and more than 250 were taken to Gaza. For Netanyahu, the complaints don’t stop at intelligence failures, as military leaders reportedly warned Hegseth against extending Iran operations.  

Netanyahu has remained in office longer than almost every senior security official who held a top post on the day of the attack. The defense minister, the military chief of staff, and the heads of military intelligence, the Mossad, and the Shin Bet have since resigned, been removed, or completed their terms.

Eisenkot, who polls as Netanyahu’s strongest challenger, said the Haaretz story shows Netanyahu “led Israel blindly” into the Oct. 7 failures. He restated a promise to create a state commission of inquiry if he wins. Nearly three years later, Netanyahu has declined repeated requests from bereaved families and survivors for an independent panel to examine the security and intelligence breakdowns that allowed Hamas to carry out the assault.

Netanyahu and people around him have instead argued that security chiefs failed to wake him the night before, even though intelligence pointed to an imminent Hamas offensive. Last month, Sara Netanyahu suggested Yair Golan already knew an attack was coming. Speaking to Channel 14, she asked how Golan was “already dressed and ready” at dawn to travel south, “while others knew nothing, including the prime minister.”

Golan asked for an apology over what he called a “vile conspiracy theory” and said he would file a defamation suit. He said the claim formed part of an effort to “rewrite” Oct. 7 and shift blame.

After the Haaretz article appeared, Golan wrote on X that the prime minister’s “they-didn’t-wake-me-up narrative is over. He knew, he was warned.” He called it “not an error in judgment, but a conscious and criminal abandonment.” Later the same day, the Democrats party put up a large billboard above Tel Aviv’s main highway with the line: “The 1,200 murdered file – Causing death by negligence.”