Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced strong backlash from opposition leaders on Tuesday after a report published by Haaretz newspaper said UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned Netanyahu that Hamas was planning a major operation days before the attacks on October 7. The report alleges that Netanyahu failed to inform security chiefs.
Issued on: 08/09/2026
By: FRANCE 24
Israeli opposition leaders on Tuesday called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unfit to serve after a report that the United Arab Emirates had warned him before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.
Haaretz newspaper, in a report excerpted from a forthcoming book by its reporters, said UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan spoke to Netanyahu a week and a half before the attack and told him that Hamas was planning a major operation.
Netanyahu's office called the report by the left-leaning newspaper "an absolute lie" and denied he spoke to the Emirati leader at that time.
Gadi Eisenkot, a former military commander who has emerged as Netanyahu's top rival in upcoming October 27 elections, accused the long-serving prime minister of evading responsibility for security lapses and resorting to "pathetic" excuses, such as saying he was not woken up soon enough on the morning of the attack.
04:20
"Netanyahu received dozens of warnings for October 7 and ignored them all. He is unfit," Eisenkot wrote on X.
Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister also running in elections, said Netanyahu "bears personal and direct responsibility" for the deaths on October 7, the deadliest attack in Israeli history.
"Netanyahu cannot continue to serve in his position for even one more minute," Bennett said.
Haaretz said that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, later killed by Israel, had warned a former Palestinian official that the militants were preparing "a terrifying operation" which he described as an "earthquake".
READ MORENetanyahu gave a ‘victory to Hamas’ by rejecting US-backed Gaza peace plan
The former Palestinian official relayed the message to an Emirati advisor, who passed it on to the Emirati leader who then called Netanyahu, according to the newspaper.
The UAE normalised ties with Israel in 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords under President Donald Trump's first administration.
Netanyahu sees close ties with the UAE as a key achievement.
The newspaper, quoting mostly anonymous sources, said that Netanyahu replied calmly to the warning.
Netanyahu for years had sought to preserve the status quo with Hamas, which would receive funding via Qatar with an understanding the Islamist group was more interested in self-preservation than a devastating war with Israel.
Hamas on October 7 stormed into Israel in a rampaage that included mass killing at a music festival.
The attack killed 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The militants also dragged into Gaza some 251 hostages, 44 of them already dead.
The massive Israeli offensive in response has left most of Gaza in ruins and killed 73,658 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Netanyahu to sue Haaretz over report UAE warned him about Hamas attack
09.09.2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday announced that he will sue the left-liberal newspaper Haaretz over its story claiming the Emirati president warned him in autumn 2023 about a large-scale Hamas offensive, saying he has instructed his lawyers to file a defamation lawsuit.
Haaretz said it stands by its story, adding that Netanyahu had sent a warning letter ahead of the libel suit the paper said was directed at it and journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval over the story.
Netanyahu, on X, said there had been no conversation between him and the Emirati president between early September and October 7, 2023. Netanyahu's office had previously denied the report.
Haaretz wrote that Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed called the Israeli prime minister from the presidential palace in Abu Dhabi a week and a half before October 7, 2023 and spoke with him for 45 minutes.
In the conversation, he is said to have warned Netanyahu that the then leader of the Islamist Hamas terrorist organization, Yahya al-Sinwar, was planning a large-scale offensive against Israel.
The report said three senior foreign government representatives were informed about the content of the phone call. The source named was an adviser to the Emirati president who was familiar with the conversation.
Haaretz also reported that Netanyahu did not inform Israel's security chiefs despite the personal warning and did nothing with the information.
The Emirati president urged Netanyahu to take the situation seriously and prepare for an attack, the report said. To his surprise, Netanyahu reacted "relatively calmly" and assured him Israel was "prepared for any scenario."
The Times of Israel also reported, citing an Emirati source familiar with the matter, that the Emirati president is said to have warned Netanyahu by phone only days before the Hamas massacre that the terrorist organization was planning a large-scale attack on Israel.
The United Arab Emirates said it did not want to comment on media reports and speculation about conversations between heads of government.
Report comes ahead of key Israeli election
The report is also sensitive because of Israel's upcoming parliamentary election on October 27. Netanyahu's statement said the "false story" was "part of the left's election campaign."
His critics, meanwhile, accuse him of failing to take personal responsibility for the massacre almost three years ago and of supporting conspiracy theories claiming members of the military allegedly knew about Hamas' plans for the attack but did not inform Netanyahu.
According to opinion polls, neither Netanyahu's camp nor that of his opponents can expect an absolute majority in the election.
Travis Gettys
September 8, 2026
U.S. President Donald Trump points his finger towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they shake hands during a press conference after meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 29, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Israeli opposition leaders demanded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's removal from office Tuesday over a bombshell report that the United Arab Emirates had warned him of an impending Hamas attack roughly a week and a half before the Oct. 7, 2023, assault.
The report, excerpted from a forthcoming book by Haaretz journalists Shlomi Eldarand and Ruth Yuval, said UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had personally warned Netanyahu that Hamas was preparing a major operation.
According to the newspaper's mostly anonymous sourcing, the warning originated with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who told a former Palestinian official the group was planning what he called an "earthquake." That message was passed to an Emirati adviser, then to the UAE leader, who relayed it to Netanyahu.
"The emir hoped that despite his reserved response, Netanyahu would take the message seriously and take action," said an adviser to the UAE leader.
However, Haaretz reported that Netanyahu responded calmly to the warning and did not notify the heads of the defense establishment – Shin Bet, Mossad and the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff.
Netanyahu's office denied the account entirely, calling it "an absolute lie" and disputing that any such call with the Emirati leader took place.
The report landed weeks before Israel's Oct. 27 elections and drew immediate condemnation from Netanyahu's rivals.
Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief who has become Netanyahu's leading electoral challenger, wrote on social media that Netanyahu "received dozens of warnings for Oct. 7 and ignored them all," calling him "unfit" for office and dismissing his past explanations, including that he was not woken promptly the morning of the attack, as "pathetic."
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, also a candidate in the upcoming vote, went further, saying Netanyahu "bears personal and direct responsibility" for the deaths on Oct. 7 and "cannot continue to serve in his position for even one more minute."
The UAE established diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 under the Abraham Accords, brokered during President Donald Trump's first term, and Netanyahu has long touted the relationship as a signature achievement of his tenure.
The Oct. 7 attack, in which Hamas fighters crossed into Israel and killed people at a music festival and nearby communities, left 1,221 dead, according to an AFP count based on Israeli figures, and resulted in 251 people being taken hostage into Gaza.
Israel's subsequent military campaign has killed 73,658 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose casualty figures the United Nations considers reliable, and left much of the territory destroyed.
The competing accounts are likely to intensify scrutiny of Netanyahu's security record as Israelis head toward the polls in seven weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment