Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed lawyers to commence defamation proceedings against the Israeli newspaper Ha Haaretz on the basis of its claim that United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed warned him of an imminent Hamas operation ahead of the Oct 7 attacks.
Ha Haaretz said the story was based on book excerpts titled Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment by Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, which reveal a phone call between bin Zayed and Netanyahu in September 2023. The UAE leader allegedly informed Netanyahu that Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar had told a former Palestinian official that Hamas was preparing a major “earthquake” operation.
Netanyahu’s office denied that any warning was received, calling the report part of a “sinister plot” and insisting that no UAE warning had reached him before the attacks.
Ha Haaretz rebuked the prime minister’s claims, emphasising that its reporting was undertaken for a book and the result of comprehensive research. Lawyers for the paper said the article was “the product of an in‑depth journalistic investigation” and was intended to fulfill the media’s role in exposing facts to the public.
The controversy has timed itself with the intensifying electoral campaign in Israel, as polls on 27 October are seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s leadership. Four opposition leaders—Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman and Yair Golan—issued a joint statement calling for an investigation into the events that led to the Oct 7 raid.
The situation adds fuel to the debate over Israel’s preparedness and handling of the crisis, with critics alleging that the prime minister failed to react swiftly enough and resisted an independent inquiry into the attacks.
While the UAE has not specifically addressed the alleged conversation, it emphasized that its cooperation with Israel has been ongoing and has focused on de‑escalation, regional stability and preventing violence in the aftermath of Hamas’s assault.
