Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday admitted he knew, despite several previous denials, that Egypt’s former intelligence chief was in Israel before Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023 – but denied he was present upon his landing, and said he does not know which Israeli official met with him.
Speaking in an interview to pro-government Channel 14, Netanyahu said that “I know who he didn’t meet. He didn’t meet with me because I was attending a memorial ceremony for fallen IDF soldiers, so it was a lie from the outset,” Netanyahu said. “He didn’t meet with me, he didn’t speak to me. Since when does an intelligence chief speak with a head of state?”
Netanyahu added: “Want to see the deep state? I’m the prime minister of Israel, and Egypt’s intelligence minister was here. He spent 59 minutes on the ground. I want to know who he met with.”
Netanyahu’s pre-October 7 warnings
Emirati warning: First reported by Haaretz and later confirmed by The New York Times, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed warned Netanyahu about 10 days before October 7 that Hamas was planning a major attack and urged him to take it seriously.
First Egyptian warning: First reported by The Atlantic, Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel secretly visited Israel on September 26, 2023, and warned that Hamas appeared to be preparing a major assault.
Additional Egyptian warnings: Reported by Yedioth Ahronoth and The Wall Street Journal, Kamel called Netanyahu days before October 7 to warn of signs of an imminent attack from Gaza.
The interview follows several reports in global media about warnings Netanyahu purportedly received before Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023. Netanyahu has denied previous reports that he was warned by Kamel, saying it was “a claim that was already debunked at the beginning of the war” and calling it “fake news.”
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Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet in Jerusalem in 2021. Credit: Amos Ben Gershom / GPO
Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet in Jerusalem in 2021. Credit: Amos Ben Gershom / GPO
The Atlantic reported late September that Egypt’s intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, came to Israel 11 days before Hamas’ October 7 massacre and delivered a warning that the armed group in Gaza was preparing for a major attack and that the window of opportunity to prevent a disaster was closing.
According to the report, which cites Israeli, Egyptian, Arab, U.S. and European officials briefed on his visit, Kamel recommended that Israel grant Hamas economic concessions to prevent a confrontation. He warned that if Israel did not change its course, “Gaza is going to blow up in your faces,” the report said, citing a former Israeli official later briefed on the visit.
According to the report, Kamel arrived in Israel on September 26, 2023, the day the country’s leadership marked 50 years since the Yom Kippur War. A plane linked to Egypt’s intelligence service landed in an isolated area at Ben-Gurion International Airport and remained on the ground for 67 minutes before returning to Cairo.
According to The Atlantic, it is unclear with whom Kamel met during his brief visit.
The Atlantic’s sources noted that the fact that Kamel personally came to Israel demonstrated the urgency of the situation. “The messenger was the message,” a former Israeli official was quoted as saying, stressing that “there is no world” where Netanyahu is unaware of a meeting with Egypt’s top intelligence official.
Also in September, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing officials in an Arab government, that Kamel called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu days before Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack to warn him, after two earlier Egyptian warnings went unheeded.
According to the Journal, Egypt first warned Israel in June 2023 that the situation in Gaza was volatile and urged it to resume negotiations with Hamas.
The Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported on October 9, 2023, that Kamel spoke with Netanyahu in the days preceding October 7 and warned him of “something unusual, a terrifying operation” about to be launched by Hamas. An Egyptian intelligence official told Yedioth Ahronoth that Kamel was “amazed by the indifference” his warning was met with in Israel. According to the report, Netanyahu told Kamel, “In Gaza, we are in the picture, we are in control. Our problem is with the West Bank, and that’s where we are also diverting forces.”
Netanyahu also said in the Channel 14 interview on Tuesday that Iran and its allies are planning to attack Israel before the upcoming election, with opposition lawmakers warning that the prime minister may ignite an escalation for political purposes ahead of the October 27 vote.
Netanyahu said Iran is planning an attack, adding that Iran’s leaders “want to do it either directly or through one of their allies.”
Earlier on Tuesday, opposition frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot of Yashar, Yisrael Beitenu party leader Avigdor Liberman and the Democrats leader Yair Golan warned that Netanyahu may start a war ahead of the upcoming election in an effort to stay in power, with the latter saying that “the writing’s on the wall, in letters of blood and fire.”
Netanyahu said Iran and its allies want him to lose the election, listing Hamas, Hezbollah and the Palestinian Authority, alongside United Arab List party leader Mansour Abbas, who was part of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s coalition in 2021-2022.
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U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters before boarding Marine One, as White House press secretary Katie Zacharia looks on, on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday. Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters before boarding Marine One, as White House press secretary Katie Zacharia looks on, on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday. Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Responding to a Channel 12 report that Netanyahu spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump last week about resuming the war against Iran, Netanyahu said he has “no intention of commenting on the many conversations I have with President Trump. … As long as we haven’t brought them down, they will come back. We first need to bring them down.”
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Netanyahu also said Israel must know how to go against U.S. interests when deciding on war. “You have to be able to act against the United States,” he said.
Also on Tuesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz from Netanyahu’s Likud party also warned that “Israel’s enemies” may spark military conflict ahead of the October 27 election.
“We are identifying attempts by our enemies, led by Iran and its proxies, to carry out attacks that would influence the results of the election in Israel,” Katz said, adding that the Netanyahu government will “make decisions according to security needs, without regard to any other consideration.”