Netanyahu Asked UAE President to deny warning ahead of October 7 attack
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly asked United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to publicly deny claims that the Emirati leader had warned him about an impending Hamas attack before the October 7, 2023 assault on Israel, according to reports citing people familiar with a private meeting between the two leaders.
Netanyahu reportedly travelled secretly to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, September 27, where he met with Sheikh Mohamed in Abu Dhabi. Two people briefed on the visit told the Associated Press that the meeting lasted about an hour.
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According to one person described as having firsthand knowledge of the discussions, Netanyahu asked the Emirati president to deny a recent report published by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which alleged that Sheikh Mohamed had warned Netanyahu about a planned Hamas operation shortly before the October 7 attack.
The Haaretz report, published earlier this month, claimed that Sheikh Mohamed had spoken with Netanyahu approximately 10 days before the attack and warned him that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation. The report said the Emirati leader was concerned that such an attack could result in significant bloodshed, destabilise the region and threaten the Abraham Accords between Israel and several Arab states.
Netanyahu’s office has repeatedly denied that he received such a warning from the UAE before October 7. His office previously described the report as false, while saying that communications between the two countries could have taken place through intelligence channels.
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The UAE has also declined to directly comment on the reported private meeting. Its Foreign Ministry said the country maintains open and direct communication channels with Israel and that relevant intelligence is shared between the appropriate authorities.
The latest reports have renewed scrutiny of what Israeli leaders and security officials knew in the period leading up to the October 7 attack, which triggered the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.
The alleged warning is part of a wider debate over whether Israeli authorities received advance indications of the Hamas assault and how those warnings were handled. Other reports have also examined alleged warnings from Egypt before the attack, although those accounts have similarly been disputed by Netanyahu’s office.
The reported UAE meeting comes as Israel approaches its October election, with responsibility for the security failures surrounding October 7 expected to remain a significant political issue.
Neither the Israeli nor Emirati governments has publicly confirmed the reported details of the conversation between Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohamed. The account of Netanyahu’s request is based on sources who spoke to journalists about the confidential meeting, while the underlying claim that the UAE president personally warned Netanyahu before October 7 remains contested.
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