Overview
- Haaretz released excerpts from a forthcoming book on Tuesday that say UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about a planned Hamas operation roughly ten days before the October 7, 2023 attack.
- The report asserts Netanyahu did not pass that warning to Israel’s top security chiefs, a claim that challenges the official timeline of when senior intelligence and military leaders learned of the threat.
- Netanyahu’s office issued a categorical denial calling the report a “total” or “absolute” lie, and the UAE declined to comment on press reports while saying relevant intelligence is shared when needed.
- Opposition figures seized on the revelations, demanding accountability and renewal of calls for an independent inquiry, and the story has become a live issue in a campaign where polls show Netanyahu’s bloc lagging ahead of the October 27 vote.
- No independent corroboration has yet been published, the book’s full release and verification remain pending, and the next likely effects are legal and political pressure for probes and further scrutiny of Israel’s pre‑October 7 intelligence handling.