Israeli opposition leaders on Tuesday called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unfit to serve after a report that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had warned him before the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack.
Haaretz newspaper, in a report excerpted from a forthcoming book by its reporters, said UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan spoke to Netanyahu a week-and-a-half before the attack and told him that Hamas was planning a major operation.
Netanyahu’s office called the report by the left-leaning newspaper “an absolute lie” and denied he spoke to the Emirati leader at that time.
Gadi Eisenkot, a former military commander who has emerged as Netanyahu’s top rival in upcoming Oct 27 elections, accused the long-serving prime minister of evading responsibility for security lapses and resorting to “pathetic” excuses, such as saying he was not woken up soon enough on the morning of the attack.
“Netanyahu received dozens of warnings for Oct 7 and ignored them all. He is unfit,” Eisenkot wrote on X.
