'No trace of any call with Zayed': Netanyahu sues Haaretz over report on UAE warning ahead of Oct 7

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed his lawyers to file a libel lawsuit against Haaretz over a report claiming that UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned him about Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack.

Netanyahu's office rejected the report as a fabrication and said there was no conversation between Netanyahu and the Emirati president between the beginning of September and October 7.

"The Prime Minister has instructed his lawyers to file a libel lawsuit against the left-wing newspaper 'Haaretz', Shlomi Eldar, and additional parties who fabricated a false story against the Prime Minister that never happened and was never created," Netanyahu's office said in a post on X on Wednesday.

According to the Prime Minister's Office, Netanyahu's call records were reviewed by his office, the National Security Council, and his military secretary. "They found no trace of it whatsoever," the statement said.

Netanyahu's office also said diplomatic conversations between the Israeli Prime Minister and the Emirati president take place exclusively through the Prime Minister's Office.

According to the statement, the UAE representative uses a special encrypted device when arriving at the office for such conversations, and all calls are documented.

The office said it also checked records of entries to the Prime Minister's Office and found no record of the Emirati representative entering during the period in question. "There is no possibility of entering the Prime Minister's Office without documentation and recording by the security forces at the facility," it said.

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What Haaretz Reported

Haaretz reported on Tuesday that Netanyahu had been warned about the planned Hamas attack at least 10 days before October 7 by Sheikh Mohamed.

The report said the warning was based on information passed through a Palestinian adviser with links to Gaza and ultimately traced to an intermediary who had met Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar several times.

According to Haaretz, Sinwar told the intermediary he was preparing a "huge surprise" and used the Arabic word "zilzal", meaning earthquake, to describe what was coming.

The information was passed to an adviser to the UAE president. Haaretz reported that the UAE president initially remained cautious but later decided the warning should be conveyed to Israel "as soon as possible".

The report said the warning reached Israel's domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, on September 15.

It also said Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar sought an immediate conversation with Netanyahu and recommended either a powerful operation to neutralise the threat or stronger defensive measures around Gaza and the West Bank.

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Netanyahu Rejects Other Claims

Netanyahu's office also disputed Haaretz reporter Shlomi Eldar's claim that Egypt had warned the prime minister about a possible attack. "Eldar also lied when he said that Egypt warned the Prime Minister of a possible attack - a claim that was already debunked at the beginning of the war," the statement said.

The Prime Minister's Office accused Haaretz and Eldar of a politically motivated campaign. "All this proves that we are dealing with a malicious fabrication with a clear political timing, as part of the left's election campaign, and there will be more such false stories."

The office said the report was intended to divert attention from what it called the failures of senior Israeli security officials before the October 7 attack. It alleged that Ronen Bar and former military chief Herzi Halevi had seen signs of the impending attack "many hours before the start of the attack".

"If, instead of fearing a miscalculation, they had instructed the IDF, the Shin Bet, and the standby units to preempt the blow, and if they had updated Prime Minister Netanyahu in time, the terrible massacre could have been prevented," Netanyahu's office said.

The Haaretz report was excerpted from a forthcoming book by its reporters. It came against the backdrop of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, in which at least 1,200 civilians and soldiers were killed and which triggered Israel's ground invasion of Gaza.