Netanyahu threatens to sue Haaretz after report claiming he received warning call from UAE president before Oct 7
Prime minister says story is ‘part of left’s election campaign,’ blames security leaders
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday that he is planning to sue Haaretz over a report claiming he was warned by United Arab Emirates leader Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ)about 10 days before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.
According to the report, which is based on research for a book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yovel, Netanyahu and bin Zayed spoke for roughly 45 minutes about 10 days before the invasion. During the conversation, the Emirati president reportedly warned that Hamas’ Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar, was planning a significant move that could undermine regional stability and harm the Abraham Accords.
In a post to his personal 𝕏 account, Netanyahu said he “instructed his lawyers to file a libel lawsuit against the left-wing newspaper ‘Haaretz,’ Shlomi Eldar, and additional parties who fabricated a false story against the Prime Minister that never happened.”
“Contrary to the claims, from the beginning of September until October 7, no conversation took place between the Prime Minister and the President of the United Arab Emirates,” the statement by Netanyahu said. It also said the Prime Minister’s Office, along with the National Security Council and the Military Secretary, “meticulously reviewed the Prime Minister's call log for those days—and found no trace of it whatsoever.”
Netanyahu said the report's publication was “political,” timed to influence the elections.
“All this proves that we are dealing with a malicious fabrication with a clear political timing, as part of the left's election campaign, and there will be more such false stories,” he wrote.
He again accused then-Shin Bet head Ronen Bar and then-IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi of failing to take appropriate action.
Netanyahu recently came under criticism after his schedule revealed he did not meet with security heads for around three hours after waking on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023.
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a statement Tuesday evening, saying that it “does not comment on media stories or speculation regarding conversations between government leaders.”
“The UAE’s engagement since October 7 was consistently directed toward de-escalation, regional stability and preventing violence,” the ministry added.
بيان صادر من وزارة الخارجية بشأن تقارير إعلامية
— MoFA وزارة الخارجية (@mofauae) September 8, 2026
Statement by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Response to Media Reporting pic.twitter.com/9S4Zavjjzc
“When necessary, all relevant intelligence has been and continues to be communicated between the relevant entities,” the ministry said.
According to a report in The Jerusalem Post, two sources familiar with the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden, said officials there were not aware of any UAE warning regarding Hamas in the days before the attack.
The Haaretz article claimed that MBZ had informed then-CIA director William Burns of his attempt to warn Netanyahu.
Netanyahu also rejected the claim that Egypt had warned him of a possible attack, calling it “a claim that was already debunked at the beginning of the war.”
Ynet journalist Smadar Perry published a report four days after Oct. 7, from sources in the office of President Abdel el-Sisi, saying that then-head of intelligence, Maj. Gen. Abbas Kamel, had warned Netanyahu of “something unusual, a terrible operation” being prepared by Hamas.
According to her report, this warning came around the same time Netanyahu reportedly received the phone call from bin Zayed.
Perry reiterated the claim following the publication of the Haaretz story, saying her sources were “very trustworthy.”
Egyptian officials have maintained that such a warning did take place before the war, however, it was reportedly a general warning regarding a Hamas threat, without precise details.
Multiple Hebrew news organizations published stories regarding Egyptian attempts to warn the Israeli government about the increasingly volatile situation in Gaza before Oct. 7, 2023.
Just a few days after Oct. 7, Republican Representative Michael McCaul, then chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, confirmed the Egyptian warning, saying, “We know that Egypt had warned Israel at least three days prior that an event like this could happen.”
— המקום הכי חם בגיהנום (@ha_makom) October 11, 2023
Despite the threat of a lawsuit by the prime minister, Haaretz and the two journalists behind the report, said they stand behind the reporting.
One of the journalists, Shlomi Eldar, said they had documentation for their reporting.
“We have documentation. We are fully backed up on this story,” Eldar said. “We would not have published it without recordings, documentation and cross-checking.”
Haaretz also released a statement, saying, “We stand behind the publication.”
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