Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday that he instructed his attorneys to file a defamation lawsuit against the Haaretz newspaper and journalists Shlomi Eldar, Ruth Yuval and Uri Misgav following a report it published on Tuesday claiming that Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed warned him before the October 7 massacre about an imminent large-scale Hamas attack.

In a statement titled “Haaretz-Manufactured Lies,” Netanyahu said: “The prime minister has instructed his attorneys to file a defamation lawsuit against the left-wing Haaretz newspaper, Shlomi Eldar and additional parties who fabricated a false libel against the prime minister that never happened.”

“Contrary to the claim,” Netanyahu wrote, “no conversation took place between the prime minister and the president of the United Arab Emirates from the beginning of September through October 7. The Prime Minister’s Office, the National Security Council and the Military Secretariat carefully examined the prime minister’s call log for those days—and found no record whatsoever of such a conversation.”

“As a rule, diplomatic conversations between the prime minister and the Emirati president take place exclusively in the Prime Minister’s Office through an Emirati representative who arrives at the office with a special encrypted device. All these conversations are documented.”

Netanyahu also addressed remarks made by Shlomi Eldar in an interview with Channel 12: “Eldar himself said in an interview with Channel 12 last night that the conversation he claims took place, during which he claims the prime minister was warned, was conducted in this manner.

“However, a thorough examination not only of the prime minister’s call log but also of the records of entries into the Prime Minister’s Office during this period shows no entry by an Emirati representative into the Prime Minister’s Office.”

Netanyahu added: “There is no possibility of entering the Prime Minister’s Office without being documented and registered by the facility’s security personnel.”

He also attacked another claim attributed to Eldar: “Eldar also lied when he said that Egypt warned the prime minister about a possible attack—a claim that was already disproven at the beginning of the war.”

Netanyahu accused Haaretz of publishing the report for political motives, stating: “The above proves that this is a malicious libel with clear political timing, as part of the left’s election campaign—and there will be more such false libels.”

He added: “This libel is intended to distract from what the public already understands,” placing responsibility on former IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi and former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who failed to inform Netanyahu about numerous warning signs the night before the attack.

“Ronen Bar and Herzi Halevi saw all the warning signs many hours before the attack began. If, instead of fearing a miscalculation, they had instructed the IDF, the Shin Bet and the civilian security squads to take preventive action, and if they had informed me in time, the horrific massacre could have been prevented.”

According to the Haaretz report, Netanyahu received an explicit warning from the president of the United Arab Emirates about “an earthquake” Sinwar was planning against Israel days before the October 7 massacre, but did not inform the heads of the security establishment.

Haaretz responded: “We stand behind our report.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)