Israeli media reported that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) contacted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the October 7, 2023 attacks, warning him that Hamas was planning a major operation. Netanyahu's office has rejected these reports.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu's office stated, "No warning was given to the Prime Minister from the United Arab Emirates before October 7." This denial follows a report by the left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which cited a book excerpt by two of its journalists. According to Haaretz, UAE President Mohammad bin Zayed spoke with Netanyahu 10 days prior to the attack, indicating that Hamas and its then-leader Yahya Sinwar were planning a significant operation targeting Israel.
The UAE's Foreign Ministry did not explicitly confirm the report but stated, "When necessary, all relevant intelligence has been and continue to be communicated between the relevant entities." The UAE normalized relations with Israel in 2021 as part of the Abraham Accords.
Haaretz reported that bin Zayed warned Netanyahu that the Hamas operation could disrupt the Middle East region and undermine the Abraham Accords. Prior to October 7, there were indications that Saudi Arabia and Israel might soon formalize ties.
In the call with bin Zayed, Netanyahu reportedly reacted with "relative calm" to the warning about a potential Hamas operation, asserting that Israel was prepared for any scenario and suggesting that an attack was more likely to come from the West Bank.
The Haaretz report was also confirmed by The Times of Israel, which cited an Emirati source stating that bin Zayed had warned Netanyahu of the Hamas attack.
The latest reports regarding Netanyahu's advance notice of a major Hamas operation come ahead of Israeli elections next month. Former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, whose centrist Yashar party is often leading Netanyahu's center-right Likud in the polls, stated, "More and more signs point to the fact that Netanyahu blindly led Israel into the disaster of October 7." Eisenkot has called for an official state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attacks, a proposal that Netanyahu has rejected.
Naftali Bennett, another opponent of Netanyahu running in the election and a former prime minister, remarked, "Netanyahu bears personal and direct responsibility for the failure that led to the deaths of thousands of Israelis on his watch." Yair Golan, chief of the center-left Democrats party, criticized Netanyahu on social media, stating, "You knew, you ignored, you failed, you are to blame."
The October 7, 2023, attacks resulted in significant casualties, killing approximately 1,200 people in Israel and taking another 251 hostages into Gaza. The attacks were noted as the single deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Following the Hamas attacks, the Israeli military initiated a war targeting Hamas in Gaza, which has reportedly resulted in over 73,650 Palestinian deaths, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry. A UN Commission of Inquiry last year found that Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.