Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu was personally warned by United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major attack against Israel roughly 10 days before the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, according to a bombshell investigation published Tuesday by Haaretz. Netanyahu’s office categorically denied the account, calling it “an absolute lie.” An Emirati source familiar with the alleged conversation subsequently confirmed to The Times of Israel that the warning was delivered in a phone call.

The allegations, which have triggered a political firestorm in Israel, are drawn from the new book “Kidnapped: 843 Days of Abandonment,” by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval. The book is based on interviews with dozens of sources in Israel and abroad, including senior officials, according to reports on its findings.

According to the investigation, bin Zayed, widely known as MBZ, spoke with Netanyahu for approximately 45 minutes in late September 2023 and told him that Sinwar was planning a major operation against Israel. Three senior foreign sources familiar with the contents of the conversation were cited in the investigation.

The Emirati leader was reportedly deeply concerned about the information, warning that such an attack could produce extensive bloodshed, destabilize the Middle East and jeopardize the Abraham Accords, which had established diplomatic relations between Israel, the UAE and several other Arab countries.

Netanyahu reportedly responded calmly, telling MBZ that Israel was prepared for various scenarios and indicating that he believed Hamas was more likely to direct an operation toward Judea and Samaria than launch a major assault from Gaza.

The report further alleged that Netanyahu did not pass MBZ’s warning along to the top echelon of Israel’s security establishment. Ronen Bar, who was serving as head of the Shin Bet, and then-IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi both told Haaretz that they had not been informed about such a warning from the Emirati president.

The account described by Haaretz, however, began before the reported Netanyahu-MBZ conversation. According to the investigation, information about Sinwar’s intentions had moved through a Palestinian intermediary who had contacts with both Hamas and Israeli security officials.

In September 2023, according to the report, Sinwar sent alarming messages through the intermediary indicating that he was preparing a “zilzal,” an Arabic word meaning earthquake. He subsequently characterized what was coming as “the mother of all surprises” and “a terrifying operation.”

The information eventually reached the UAE leadership and was also relayed to the Shin Bet on Sept. 15, according to the investigation. Bar then briefed Netanyahu about Sinwar’s warning, and senior Israeli defense officials convened for a security assessment two days later.

At that discussion, Bar reportedly warned that Israel was “on a collision course” and urged officials to consider either taking a significant offensive action or substantially strengthening defenses in Gaza and Judea and Samaria ahead of the approaching Jewish holidays.

The meeting reportedly ended without such a decision being made.

According to the investigation, UAE officials subsequently concluded that Israel had not responded adequately to the intelligence, prompting MBZ to take the unusual step of raising the matter personally with Netanyahu.

The report said a separate warning also came from Egypt. Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel reportedly contacted Netanyahu during roughly the same period and warned that Hamas was preparing “something unusual, a terrifying operation.”

Netanyahu reportedly responded to the Egyptian warning by saying that Israel had the situation in Gaza under control and that the country’s attention and military deployments were concentrated in Judea and Samaria.

According to the investigation, Netanyahu did not raise either the alleged Emirati or Egyptian warning during an Oct. 1 security discussion focused on Hamas and Gaza.

A senior Shin Bet official cited by Haaretz said that had security officials known about the warnings reportedly conveyed by MBZ and Kamel, they might have viewed Sinwar’s earlier messages — as well as his withdrawal from negotiations — differently.

Ten days after the alleged conversation with MBZ, Hamas terrorists poured across Israel’s border from Gaza on Oct. 7, murdering approximately 1,200 people and abducting 251 others into Gaza in the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel’s history.

The Prime Minister’s Office issued an unequivocal denial of the central allegation.

“Netanyahu did not speak with the president of the United Arab Emirates during the period in question and did not receive any warning from him,” the Prime Minister’s Office said, calling the report “an absolute lie.”

In an additional response reported by the Associated Press, Netanyahu’s office said, “If there was any relevant information, it was passed through intelligence channels between the two countries.”

The UAE Foreign Ministry did not directly confirm the substance of the Haaretz account when responding publicly Tuesday. It said it would not comment on “speculation regarding conversations between government leaders,” while noting that Israel and the UAE have maintained “open and direct lines of communication” since establishing diplomatic ties. “When necessary, all relevant intelligence has been and continues to be communicated,” the ministry said.

Later Tuesday, however, an Emirati source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Times of Israel that MBZ had called Netanyahu and warned him that Hamas was planning a major attack, lending independent support to the central claim in the Haaretz investigation.

The report immediately became a major political issue in Israel, where the circumstances leading to Oct. 7 and the question of responsibility for the failures that preceded the massacre remain intensely contested.

Naftali Bennett, who served as prime minister before Netanyahu and now heads the B’Yachad party, told 103FM that he “knew for a fact the report is true.”

MBZ “warned Netanyahu that Sinwar was planning an operation. Abbas Kamel, the head of Egyptian General Intelligence, also warned Netanyahu days before the massacre that a major operation was being planned,” Bennett said. “I don’t want to talk about my relationship with anyone. I’m telling you that I know this fact is true.”

Bennett then leveled a blistering accusation against Netanyahu.

“Netanyahu led us blindly straight into this terrible disaster. He was so deeply immersed in his conception that Hamas was an asset, and despite receiving explicit warnings, he did nothing,” Bennett said.

“Netanyahu bears direct responsibility for this disaster, not only ministerial responsibility by virtue of being prime minister, but direct responsibility because he built up Hamas for 15 years and did nothing.”

Asked what he would have done had he been serving as prime minister and received a similar warning in 2023, Bennett said he would have immediately moved to increase Israel’s readiness.

“In a similar situation, if I had received a quarter of a warning when I was prime minister, I would have raced to the South. That’s what I always do: meet the commanders and the observation soldiers, convene the IDF chief of staff and the Shin Bet chief, increase alertness and defenses, and prepare for offensive action if necessary. I would have done everything to protect the lives of the residents.”

Gadi Eisenkot, the former IDF chief of staff and chairman of the Yashar Party, also seized on the report, saying it reinforced his contention that the failures preceding Oct. 7 reached Israel’s highest political level.

“More and more signs indicate that Netanyahu led Israel blindly into the October 7 failure,” Eisenkot said.

“According to the report this morning, he received an explicit warning, days before the massacre, from the president of the United Arab Emirates regarding Sinwar’s intentions, but did not update the heads of the defense establishment. Who failed to wake whom?”

Eisenkot continued: “Those around him are echoing the pathetic conspiracy and betrayal theory, inventing the most ridiculous sentence a leader could cling to, ‘They didn’t wake me up,’ because of two facts: He knows the truth; He is terrified of it and is trying to escape responsibility. Netanyahu received dozens of warnings ahead of October 7 and ignored them all. He is unfit.”

Eisenkot pledged that his party would seek a state commission of inquiry into the events leading up to the massacre if a new government is formed following Israel’s upcoming election.

“Immediately upon the formation of the next government, we will establish a state commission of inquiry that will investigate the previous decade, clarify what Netanyahu knew and did not know, get to the truth, and prevent the next disaster.”

The latest allegations add a significant new element to the long-running debate over the warnings Israel received before Oct. 7 and which officials knew about them. While Netanyahu’s office has flatly denied that the alleged conversation with MBZ occurred, the Haaretz investigation maintains that three senior foreign sources were familiar with its contents, and an Emirati source has now separately told The Times of Israel that the warning was indeed conveyed.

{Matzav.com}