The Likud party is demanding an investigation into the Haaretz newspaper and the journalists behind a report claiming that approximately a week and a half before October 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a warning from the president of the United Arab Emirates regarding Hamas’s intentions.

“The real affair that has been uncovered over the past two days is blatant foreign interference in Israel’s elections. It has emerged that the person behind the false report in Haaretz is senior Palestinian official Mohammed Dahlan, who is based in the Emirates," the party said in a statement issued Wednesday evening.

“Dahlan formed a joint slate with Hamas for the Palestinian Authority elections. He wants to bring down the right-wing government headed by Netanyahu because he dreams of taking control of the Gaza Strip. To do that, he needs a weak left-wing government of Eisenkot, Yair Golan, Liberman and the Arab parties. Such a government would withdraw from Gaza and hand it over to his control," Likud claimed.

The party added, “It was revealed that Shlomi Eldar, who published the fake news, received payment from a left-wing nonprofit organization linked to Yair Golan’s Democrats party in order to spread his false allegation. In addition, about two months ago, Yair Golan and Ronen Bar secretly visited the United Arab Emirates. Is this secret visit connected to the false report in Haaretz?"

The prime minister and his party demanded that a criminal investigation be opened against Shlomi Eldar, Ruth Yuval, Haaretz, Yair Golan and the Democrats party over what they described as “suspected efforts to disrupt the elections with foreign actors."