Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has denied a report that United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned him about a planned Hamas attack roughly 10 days before the October 7, 2023 assault, as political pressure over the intelligence failures surrounding the attack intensifies ahead of Israel's elections.
The report, published Tuesday by Haaretz and based on an upcoming book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruti Yuval, says bin Zayed spoke with Netanyahu in a roughly 45-minute phone call a week and a half before the attack. According to the report, the Emirati leader warned that Hamas and its Gaza leader at the time, Yahya Sinwar, were preparing a major operation against Israel that could cause significant bloodshed and destabilize the region.
Netanyahu's office rejected the account, calling it an "absolute lie." In a statement, it said, "No warning was given to the Prime Minister from the United Arab Emirates before October 7." A later statement said Netanyahu did not speak with the UAE president during the period in question and that any relevant intelligence would have been transmitted through intelligence channels between the two countries.
