Benjamin Netanyahu says he will sue over claims he ignored an advance warning about October 7 attack
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he will sue Haaretz newspaper and journalist Shlomi Eldar over claims that he was personally warned by the United Arab Emirates about an imminent Hamas attack roughly ten days before the 7 October 2023 assault, but failed to alert Israel's defence chiefs. The allegation, drawn from a new book by Eldar and Ruth Yuval, has become politically explosive amid an ongoing election campaign, with opposition leaders branding Netanyahu "unfit" for office and demanding an investigation into what he knew beforehand.
According to the report, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed held a 45-minute call with Netanyahu in late September 2023, passing on intelligence that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had described plans for a "terrifying" and "extraordinary" operation, while Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel reportedly gave a similar warning. Netanyahu allegedly responded calmly and did not raise the warnings at a security meeting on 1 October. His office has dismissed the claims as an "absolute lie," saying call logs and building entry records show no contact with an Emirati representative during the period. The 7 October attack killed over 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, triggering wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran in which more than 73,000 Palestinians have since been killed, according to Gaza's health ministry.
In short
- Netanyahu to sue Haaretz over claims he ignored an October 7 warning
- Report alleges UAE president warned him weeks before the attack
- Netanyahu's office denies the claims; opposition calls him "unfit" for office
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
If the reported warnings were credible and specific, a prime minister has a duty to pass them promptly to defence officials and ensure they are assessed; failure to do so could indicate a serious lapse in leadership and justify an independent investigation. Given the scale of the attack and the public interest in how it was handled, supporters of scrutiny argue that the claims should be examined rather than dismissed without inquiry.
The case against
Netanyahu denies receiving the reported warning, and his office says call records and entry logs contradict the account; those claims have not been established as fact in the story. In an election campaign, serious allegations drawn from a book should be tested carefully, and pursuing a defamation case can be defended as a way to challenge claims he considers false while protecting his reputation.
Explained simply
Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist group that governs Gaza and has fought repeated wars with Israel. On 7 October 2023, Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities and a music festival in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage; Israel responded with a military campaign in Gaza.
Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel’s prime minister, and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed is the president of the United Arab Emirates, which has formal relations with Israel. Egypt, another neighbour of Israel and Gaza, has long played a role in security contacts between Israel and Palestinian groups.
Questions about what Israeli leaders knew before the attack have become part of debate over responsibility for the security failure. The dispute matters because it concerns whether warnings reached the prime minister and defence officials, and may affect public trust and political accountability.
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