Haaretz reports Netanyahu knew about Oct. 7 threat, failed to alert security chiefs

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a direct warning that Hamas was planning a major operation roughly 10 days before the Oct. 7, 2023, attack but did not share it with Israel’s top security officials, according to a Sept. 8 report published by Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Netanyahu has strongly denied the account. 

The Haaretz account, drawn from research for an upcoming book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval titled Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment, states that United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan delivered the warning in a 45-minute call with Netanyahu in late September 2023. 

According to the report, which cites three senior foreign sources familiar with the conversation, the UAE leader cautioned that then-Hamas Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major action against Israel that would lead to bloodshed and destabilize the region.

The report said bin Zayed was surprised by Netanyahu’s response. Netanyahu reportedly reacted calmly, told the UAE leader that Israel was prepared for any scenario, and said he viewed the West Bank, rather than Gaza, as the more volatile area.

According to the report, Netanyahu did not brief senior Israeli security officials about the alleged UAE warning. Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told Haaretz they had not been informed of the communication. 

An Emirati source familiar with the conversation separately confirmed to The Times of Israel that bin Zayed had warned Netanyahu about a planned Hamas attack, according to a Sept. 8 report.

The Haaretz report also cited a close advisor to bin Zayed, who said the information originated with a Palestinian intermediary who had contacts with both Hamas and Israeli security officials. 

Sinwar told the intermediary in September 2023 that he was preparing a “zilzal,” an Arabic word meaning earthquake, and subsequently referred to “the mother of all surprises” and a “terrifying operation,” according to the investigation.

The intermediary’s message was eventually relayed to UAE officials and, according to the report, to the Shin Bet on Sept. 15. Bar later briefed Netanyahu about Sinwar’s warning, and senior defense officials held a security assessment two days later. 

At that security meeting, Bar reportedly warned that Israel was “on a collision course” and urged officials to either launch a strong offensive operation or bolster defenses in Gaza and the West Bank before the Jewish holidays. The meeting ended without a course of action, according to the report.

The report said bin Zayed later decided to raise the matter with Netanyahu directly after Emirati officials became concerned Israel had not adequately responded to the warning.

The investigation further alleged that Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel contacted Netanyahu during the same period and conveyed a similar warning that Hamas was planning “something unusual, a terrifying operation.” Netanyahu reportedly replied that Israel believed it had the situation in Gaza under control and was directing more of its attention toward the West Bank. 

Amos Nadan, director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that he believes it “is entirely plausible that the scale of the disaster would have been significantly reduced” if “a sufficiently clear warning had led Israel to reinforce the border before October 7.”

Netanyahu denies report as opposition leaders call for investigation

In a statement responding to the report cited by Haaretz, Netanyahu’s office described it as an “absolute lie,” saying the UAE did not warn Netanyahu before Oct. 7 and that any relevant intelligence would have been communicated through established intelligence channels between the two countries.

Netanyahu said in a Sept. 9 X post that he has instructed his lawyers to file a libel lawsuit against the newspaper and its journalists over the report. He argued that “no conversation took place” between him and the UAE president, according to an unofficial translation of the Hebrew-language post. He also said such a call would have generated documentation, and his office found no record of the conversation.

Netanyahu also suggested the report’s publication was politically timed ahead of Israel’s Oct. 27 Knesset election and sought to shift responsibility for the pre-Oct. 7 intelligence failures to Bar and Halevi. He accused the two security chiefs of failing to update him “in time” to prevent the attack despite, he said, having seen “all the signs” of an impending assault “many hours” before it began.

Haaretz said in a Sept. 9 post that it stands by its reporting. 

Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, who served as prime minister from June 2021 to July 2022 and now leads the B’Yachad party, said on X that the report was true.

“Netanyahu bears personal and direct responsibility for the failure that led to the deaths of thousands of Israelis on his watch,” Bennett said, according to an unofficial translation of the original Hebrew. “His ignoring of the warnings is criminal negligence, and therefore he is doing everything to prevent the establishment of a state commission of inquiry that will expose the truth.”

Other Israeli opposition leaders also called for an investigation into the allegations and used them to renew criticism of Netanyahu. Gadi Eisenkot — a former IDF chief of staff and leader of the Yashar party who is considered one of Netanyahu’s top opponents in the election — said in a Sept. 8 X post that Netanyahu had received “dozens of warnings” before Oct. 7 and failed to act on them.

Eisenkot, Bennett, Democrats party leader and former IDF deputy chief of staff Yair Golan, and Yisrael Beytenu leader and former defense minister Avigdor Liberman issued a joint statement saying the public should know “what Netanyahu knew and when he knew it.” 

The UAE Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, did not confirm nor deny the reported conversation. It said the UAE and Israel have maintained “open and direct lines of communication” since they began a relationship more than five years ago and that any relevant intelligence “has been and continues to be communicated between the relevant entities.”