The phone call between Netanyahu and Emirati President Mohamed bin Zayed has come to light in work on a new book, Haaretz reports. According to the newspaper, Netanyahu downplayed the threat and did not pass the information on to his security chiefs.
The conversation reportedly involved Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar planning a major “operation” against Israel. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says he is aware of the Emirati warning.
However, the Shin Bet security service and the military leadership, as well as Netanyahu and his staff, say they are unaware of any warning from the United Arab Emirates.
Recommended murders
Ronen Bar, then head of the Shin Bet security service, met with Netanyahu just days before the attack, according to security sources, and recommended that Hamas leader Sinwar and other senior figures in the group be assassinated. According to the source, he told Netanyahu that Hamas was “preparing something extreme,” The Jerusalem Post reports.
In the new book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, Israeli defense sources say that the Qatari prime minister called the Israeli intelligence service Mossad as early as the evening of October 7, 2023, after a conversation with Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
He is said to have told Mossad chief David Barnea that Hamas was ready to release civilian hostages, and that Qatar was ready to negotiate, writes Haaretz.
The Mossad chief reportedly responded that Israel was not ready to talk to Hamas.
Prime Minister Netanyahu's office commented on the information in a statement on Tuesday:
"No warning was given to the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates before October 7."
Election in October
The information comes ahead of Israel's elections on October 27. Netanyahu is being challenged by Gadi Eisenkot, who is seen as one of the prime minister's main challengers before the election. Eisenkot is commenting on the information that the United Arab Emirates allegedly warned Netanyahu about the attack.
“More and more signs point to the same conclusion: Netanyahu blindly led Israel into the disaster of October 7,” writes the former chief of staff of the Israeli military on X.
