Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will sue the Israeli newspaper Haaretz over a report claiming that United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed warned him about a planned Hamas attack days before October 7, 2023.
Netanyahu described the report as false and politically motivated and said he had instructed his lawyers to take legal action against Haaretz and the journalists behind the report, Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval.
The report claimed that bin Zayed contacted Netanyahu about 10 days before the October 7 attack and warned him that then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation against Israel.
According to Haaretz, the reported phone conversation lasted about 45 minutes and included a warning that a Hamas operation could cause significant bloodshed, destabilize the region and threaten the Abraham Accords.
The report further claimed that information about Sinwar’s plans had reached the UAE through an intermediary before being passed to Israeli authorities. It said the warning was also raised directly with Netanyahu after concerns persisted over the possible scale of the planned attack.
Netanyahu has strongly denied that such a conversation took place. His office said there was no warning from the UAE before October 7 and maintained that the report was fabricated.
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In his latest response, Netanyahu said a review of his call records by the National Security Council and his military secretary found no evidence of a conversation with bin Zayed during the relevant period.
However, The Times of Israel reported that an Emirati source familiar with the matter confirmed that bin Zayed personally warned Netanyahu during a phone call about a planned Hamas attack. The UAE government itself has not confirmed or denied the reported conversation.
The controversy has intensified political pressure on Netanyahu ahead of Israel’s October 27 general election. Opposition figures have used the report to renew questions about the government’s handling of intelligence warnings before the October 7 attack.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, has accused his critics and the newspaper of using the report for political purposes during the election campaign.
The October 7, 2023 attack killed about 1,200 people in Israel and resulted in the capture of more than 250 hostages, according to widely cited figures. The attack triggered Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza.
Haaretz has stood by its reporting, while the dispute over whether Netanyahu received a direct warning from the UAE remains at the centre of a growing political and legal controversy in Israel.
Al Jazeera/euronews/
