UAE President Warned Netanyahu Days Before Oct 7
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is confronting renewed political scrutiny following a report by Haaretz that United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan personally alerted him to an impending Hamas assault. The allegation centres on a telephone conversation said to have taken place roughly ten days prior to the Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023. According to the account, this forty-five-minute call involved information that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation capable of destabilising the region.
Netanyahu’s office has issued a complete denial, stating that no such conversation occurred and that official records contain no evidence of it. The Prime Minister’s team is currently preparing legal action against the newspaper and the journalists responsible for the story. While an Emirati source familiar with the reported dialogue later supported the narrative to The Times of Israel, the UAE government has not directly confirmed or denied the contents of a private leadership call.
Haaretz Report Details Alleged Call and Denial
The Haaretz investigation relied on sources and material gathered for a book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval. The report alleges that Netanyahu responded calmly during the discussion but failed to pass the warning to senior leaders within Israel’s military or Shin Bet domestic security agency. Former Shin Bet director Ronen Bar and former Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi reportedly stated they were not informed about this alleged Emirati warning.
This specific claim regarding the UAE is distinct from earlier reports suggesting Egypt warned Israel of growing danger before the assault. Egyptian officials indicated after 7 October that warnings had been delivered, though Netanyahu denied receiving a specific alert from Cairo. In October 2023, senior US politician Michael McCaul noted that Egyptian intelligence had reportedly warned Israel approximately three days before the attack, though those claims did not establish that Egypt possessed the complete operational plan or knew the exact date and scale.
The alleged UAE call has not been established through a public independent investigation or a court finding. Haaretz published the new allegations on Tuesday, 8 September 2026. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett responded immediately by asserting he knew the central report was true and accusing Netanyahu of failing to alert security leaders, prepare southern Israel, or convene the cabinet.
Timeline of Intelligence Failures and Hamas Assault
Hamas-led fighters breached the Gaza boundary on 7 October, attacking Israeli communities and military positions. The assault resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people and the taking of 251 hostages. This event exposed extensive failures across Israel’s political, military and intelligence systems. Haaretz also reported that on 1 October, then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar proposed possible action against Hamas leaders, but no immediate decision was made at that time.
The dispute emerged weeks before Israel’s scheduled election on 27 October 2026, making responsibility for the 2023 security failure a central campaign issue. Netanyahu’s office stated he did not speak with the UAE president during the relevant period and received no warning from him. It said checks of official schedules, records and access logs had found no evidence supporting the account.
Netanyahu accused the report’s authors of fabricating the allegation for political reasons and called for a criminal investigation. His position remains that Israel’s security and intelligence chiefs failed to provide him with an actionable warning before the attack. Bennett publicly supported the substance of the report and said Netanyahu bore personal responsibility for the failure.
Other opposition figures, including Gadi Eisenkot, Yair Golan and Avigdor Liberman, demanded disclosure of what Netanyahu knew and when he knew it. The UAE Foreign Ministry said it does not comment on media speculation about private conversations between leaders, while noting that direct communication channels with Israel have existed since relations were normalised.
Political Fallout Over Withheld Security Warnings
The immediate issue is whether a specific warning reached Israel’s prime minister and whether it was shared with the officials responsible for national security.
Bennett’s assertion strengthens the political weight of the allegation, but it does not replace documentary evidence, sworn testimony or an independent finding. Israel possessed information about Hamas training, attack concepts and rising tensions before the assault, but different warnings were reportedly dismissed, misunderstood or not passed through the system.
The new UAE claim adds another possible warning to that record while Netanyahu continues shifting primary blame towards security officials. What is confirmed is that Haaretz published the allegation on 8 September 2026, Bennett backed it publicly, Netanyahu denied it and announced legal action. On Wednesday, 9 September, Netanyahu announced that he had instructed his lawyers to pursue a defamation case against Haaretz and Eldar.
No court has yet ruled on Netanyahu’s threatened lawsuit, and Israel has still not established the full state commission of inquiry demanded by many victims’ families and government critics. The UAE allegation is separate from earlier reports that Egypt warned Israel about growing danger from Gaza before the attack. Haaretz has stood by its reporting.
The situation leaves an independent inquiry or court process to determine whether the reported conversation can be conclusively proven. Netanyahu continues to reject the central allegation, maintaining that his office received no such warning. The political landscape remains divided as the nation approaches the election, with the integrity of intelligence sharing and leadership accountability at the forefront of public debate.