Overview
- Excerpts published from a forthcoming book by Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval say UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed phoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for about 45 minutes in September 2023 to warn of a planned large Hamas operation.
- The book’s authors and Haaretz cite multiple interviewees, including a Bin Zayed adviser, as the basis for the account while the Israeli prime minister’s office issued a categorical denial of the report.
- The reporting asserts Netanyahu did not inform senior Israeli security chiefs about the alleged warning, and former officials including Ronen Bar and Herzl Halevi say they were not told.
- Opposition leaders have renewed demands for an independent investigation and the disclosure has already become a campaign issue ahead of Israel’s 27 October 2026 parliamentary vote.
- The story builds on earlier accounts that Egypt’s intelligence and Israel’s own Shin Bet warned of threats in September 2023, raising fresh questions about cross‑border intelligence sharing and who had operational responsibility before the Oct. 7 attack.