Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during their meeting Sunday to deny a report that he had warned Netanyahu of a looming Hamas attack before Oct. 7, 2023, The Associated Press reported Monday, citing a person with firsthand knowledge of the meeting.
Netanyahu continues to deny that he received such a warning. According to AP, the UAE Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Sunday’s meeting but did not issue a denial of the warning claim. The ministry reiterated that the UAE maintains “open and direct lines of communication” with Israel and that “all relevant intelligence” is shared when necessary, language it also used in its official response when the controversy first erupted earlier this month.
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Netanyahu asked UAE president to deny he warned him before Oct. 7
(Photo: shutterstock, AP, Shalev Shalom)
There was still no official reference Monday to Netanyahu’s visit on the UAE’s state news agency. The previously undisclosed trip to Abu Dhabi was confirmed by a senior Israeli official, who said Netanyahu met Mohammed bin Zayed on Sunday. Netanyahu’s office did not respond to the latest AP report.
The controversy began on Sept. 8 with an investigation by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, published ahead of their book, which alleged that Mohammed bin Zayed called Netanyahu about a week and a half before Oct. 7 and warned him that then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation. Netanyahu’s office called the account an “absolute lie,” saying he did not speak with the Emirati president during the period in question and received no warning from him.
The investigation followed earlier reporting by Yedioth Ahronoth and ynet journalist Smadar Perry in the first days after the attack that Egypt had also warned Netanyahu of “something terrible” shortly before the massacre.
Fresh reports from major U.S. outlets have since added new details to the dispute over what warnings reached Israel before the Hamas-led attack.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing officials in an Arab government, that then-Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel personally called Netanyahu in early October 2023 after two earlier Egyptian warnings had failed to prompt action. According to the report, Cairo continued warning Israel until roughly 48 hours before the attack, although the warnings did not specify the timing or scale of an assault. Netanyahu has previously denied speaking with Kamel in the months before Oct. 7.
Then-Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel
(Photo: AP)
The New York Times reported Friday that Mohammed bin Zayed had warned Netanyahu in late September that Hamas was considering a major attack. According to the report, the Emirati president later referred to that conversation in a discussion with then-CIA Director William Burns. The Times also reported that Netanyahu did not mention the warning during an Oct. 1 security meeting at which officials discussed Gaza and possible action against senior Hamas figures.
At that meeting, according to minutes cited by the Times, Netanyahu opposed action in Gaza that he feared could trigger an escalation and damage efforts to reach a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia. Five former senior Israeli officials told the newspaper that the alleged Emirati warning did not appear in internal investigations they had participated in and had not reached the heads of the security establishment.
Separately, The Atlantic reported that Kamel made a secret visit to Israel on Sept. 26, 2023, 11 days before the massacre. Flight records and other data cited in the investigation indicated that the aircraft carrying him remained at Ben Gurion Airport for just 67 minutes. The magazine reported that Kamel came with an urgent warning that Hamas was mobilizing for an unprecedented attack, although he did not know when or how it would occur.
According to The Atlantic, Kamel urged Israeli officials to ease economic pressure on Gaza in an attempt to prevent an escalation. The report said it was unclear whom he met during the brief visit.
Netanyahu has rejected the growing series of reports about warnings he allegedly received before Oct. 7. The latest AP account adds a new dimension to the dispute by suggesting that the issue itself was raised during his meeting with Mohammed bin Zayed, with the prime minister seeking an explicit Emirati denial of the claim.