Two sources, including a person who spoke directly with United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed, confirmed that the Emirati leader warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a “major attack” by Hamas shortly before October 7, 2023, according to a New York Times report published Friday.
The report confirms a Haaretz exposé published earlier this month by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, according to which, a week and a half before the October 7 attack, the Emirati president called Netanyahu and spoke with him for 45 minutes. He explicitly warned Netanyahu that Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar was planning a major move against Israel.
According to The New York Times, a transcript of a meeting Netanyahu convened with senior Israeli security officials on October 1, 2023, shows that he told the officials that any Israeli action in Gaza could undermine the prospects of Saudi Arabia establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, a deal he believed was close to being finalized.
Revealed: Netanyahu received an explicit warning days before Oct. 7. He didn’t brief Israel’s security chiefs
Click here to read the extensive investigation into the fateful warning delivered by UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed, which prompted Netanyahu to sent a warning letter ahead of a libel suit against Haaretz.
The report added that Netanyahu told officials that their goal should be to preserve calm in Gaza and objected when security officials argued that Israel should consider military strikes against senior Hamas officials in the Strip who were directing attacks against Israelis in the West Bank.
According to a source familiar with the details, Sheikh Mohamed mentioned his conversation with Netanyahu in a discussion with William Burns, then CIA director. He told Burns that during the call, he had spoken with Netanyahu about a “looming threat” from Hamas in the West Bank or Gaza.
According to the report published by Eldar and Yuval, Sheikh Mohamed expressed concern that the planned operation would not only lead to bloodshed but also shake the entire region and undermine the Abraham Accords. He urged Netanyahu to take the matter seriously.
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Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, earlier this month. Credit: Omer Messinger/Reuters
Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, earlier this month. Credit: Omer Messinger/Reuters
To his surprise, however, Netanyahu reacted relatively calmly to the information. The prime minister said he believed Hamas was planning to act in the West Bank and reassured bin Zayed that Israel was prepared for any scenario. Netanyahu did not brief the heads of the security establishment about the conversation.
Netanyahu flatly rejected the report at the time, with his office calling the investigation an “absolute lie.”
“Prime Minister Netanyahu didn’t speak to the president of the UAE during the period in question and received no warning from him,” the response said.
Earlier this week, an Emirati official addressed the report, saying that heads of state do not discuss such matters at that level, according to the Emirati news site The National.
The source did not deny that Netanyahu and bin Zayed had spoken, but said: “UAE discusses security matters with other countries through the relevant entities, and does not discuss such details at the level of national leaders,” the source told UAE state-owned newspaper The National.
The source did not deny that the two leaders spoke, nor the Haaretz’s report.
In 2024, the Financial Times reported that The National is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s vice president and the president’s brother. It also reported that the site aligns with the government’s position and practices self-censorship on issues deemed sensitive or problematic by the authorities.