Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his lawyers to file a libel lawsuit against Haaretz, journalist Shlomi Eldar and additional parties over a report claiming that UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed warned him about a planned Hamas operation before the October 7, 2023 attack.
In a post on X on Wednesday, September 9, titled “Lies Made in ‘Haaretz’”, Netanyahu accused the newspaper, Eldar and others of fabricating a story that, he said, “never happened and was never created”.
Netanyahu said no conversation took place between him and the UAE president from the beginning of September until October 7, 2023. He said the Prime Minister’s Office, National Security Council and Military Secretariat had reviewed his call records for the period and found “no trace of it whatsoever”.
He also disputed how such a conversation could have taken place. Netanyahu said diplomatic conversations between the Israeli prime minister and the Emirati president are conducted through the Prime Minister’s Office, with an Emirati representative arriving with a special encrypted device. He said such conversations are documented.
Netanyahu added that a review of records showing entries to the Prime Minister’s Office found no record of the Emirati representative entering the premises. He also rejected Eldar’s separate claim that Egypt had warned him of a possible attack, saying that allegation had already been debunked.
Netanyahu described the Haaretz report as “a malicious fabrication” and accused its authors of releasing it at a politically motivated time as part of an election campaign.
He then turned to former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and former IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi. Netanyahu said they had seen warning signs “many hours before the start of the attack” and argued that the massacre could have been prevented if they had ordered the IDF, Shin Bet and standby units to act pre-emptively and informed him in time.
What the Haaretz report claims
The Haaretz investigation, published on Tuesday, September 8, by Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, claimed that bin Zayed spoke to Netanyahu about 10 days before the October 7 attack.
According to the report, the approximately 45-minute conversation included a warning that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation. Bin Zayed reportedly warned that the planned attack could cause bloodshed, destabilise the region and threaten the Abraham Accords.
The investigation was conducted for a forthcoming book by Eldar and Yuval and claimed that Netanyahu did not brief Israel’s security chiefs about the warning.
Israel rejects claim, UAE declines to comment
The Prime Minister’s Office had already rejected the Haaretz report on Tuesday, saying the press reports were false. It said no warning had been given to Netanyahu by the UAE before October 7 and that, if there was relevant information, it had been passed through intelligence channels between the two countries.
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not confirm or deny the alleged conversation. It said the UAE government does not comment on media reports or speculation concerning conversations between government leaders.
The ministry added that UAE and Israeli government entities have maintained open and direct lines of communication since the establishment of relations between the two countries, and that relevant intelligence is shared between the concerned entities when necessary.
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