Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his lawyers to file a defamation lawsuit against Haaretz, journalist Shlomi Eldar and others over a report claiming that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned him of an impending Hamas operation before the October 7, 2023 attack.
Netanyahu’s office has categorically denied the report, calling it an “absolute lie” and insisting that the Israeli prime minister neither spoke to bin Zayed during the period in question nor received any warning from him about an imminent attack.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s Office said it had examined Netanyahu’s call records, as well as records maintained by the National Security Council and the Military Secretariat, and found no evidence of a conversation between Netanyahu and the Emirati president from the beginning of September until October 7.
The office said communications between the two leaders were conducted through a secure mechanism in which an Emirati representative brought an encrypted device to the Prime Minister’s Office. Such conversations, it said, were recorded. Officials also reviewed entry logs and found no record of an Emirati representative entering the office with such a device during the period.
According to Netanyahu’s office, the absence of any entry record further undermines the report, as access to the Prime Minister’s Office without documentation was not possible.
Haaretz, however, has stood by its report. A senior Middle East intelligence source familiar with the confidential channel between Israel and the UAE separately told Ynet that the Emirates had passed intelligence to Israel warning of the possibility of “significant and imminent action” by Hamas before October 7.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has also publicly confirmed that the phone conversation between Netanyahu and bin Zayed described in the Haaretz report took place, although he has not disclosed the basis for his claim.
The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has neither confirmed nor denied the report. In response to questions, it said it does not comment on media reports or speculation concerning conversations between government leaders. The ministry nevertheless said that, when necessary, relevant intelligence has been and continues to be shared between the appropriate authorities.
The dispute comes amid continuing scrutiny over what Israeli political and security leaders knew in the hours and days preceding the October 7 assault, when Hamas fighters breached the Gaza border and launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel.
