The president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, warned the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, that Hamas was planning a large-scale attack a week and a half before the October 7 attacks, the newspaper Haaretz reported exclusively on Tuesday.
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The Israeli outlet, which reconstructs how this exchange between the two leaders was forged after an investigation based on “dozens of sources in Israel and around the world, including senior officials, as well as recordings, internal documents, and correspondence,” states that the conversation took place by phone, lasted 45 minutes, and was ignored by Netanyahu.
Bin Zayed then specified, according to the Israeli digital outlet, that the then leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, was plotting an attack that would cause a great bloodshed, destabilize the Middle East region, and undermine the Abraham Accords between Israel and the Arab countries.
The investigation points out that Netanyahu reacted “with relative calm” and dismissed the threat
According to his advisor, the emir emphasized to Netanyahu the need to prepare for the threat: “He told him that Israel had to be prepared. At the same time, he recommended seeking an economic solution for the Gaza Strip and calming the situation in the West Bank to avoid escalation.”
Bin Zayed urged Netanyahu to take the situation “seriously,” but “to his surprise, the Israeli prime minister reacted with relative calm,” stating that “Hamas intended to operate in the West Bank” and assured Bin Zayed that Israel was “prepared for any scenario,” the article details.
The investigation also delves into the fact that months before October 7, Netanyahu had authorized senior Israeli officials to negotiate with Hamas to ease the economic blockade on the Palestinian enclave in exchange for calming tensions. An Israeli security source stated that “at the end of August 2023, Netanyahu approved the release of 30 prisoners, including 20 serving life sentences,” but the release was repeatedly postponed and Sinwar ended up becoming impatient and breaking the direct channel opened with Israel.
In September 2023, Sinwar organized a private meeting with a former Fatah official who served as a mediator and with the UAE advisor and was blunt: “Tell the Israelis that if they do not make progress, I am preparing a big surprise for them (…) An earthquake,” the informant of Bin Zayed recapped.
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“Tell them I am preparing the mother of all surprises. A terrifying operation. Something extraordinary (…) Communicate to the Israelis what I am saying word for word,” Sinwar demanded, also according to the Emirati advisor.
Thus, at the end of September, that 45-minute conversation took place, during which Bin Zayed explicitly warned Netanyahu about Sinwar’s intentions which, according to a Shin Bet leader who contributed to the investigation, had no effect on the Israeli leader, although the internal security service supposedly recommended a preemptive strike.
A few weeks before the legislative elections in Israel, the candidacies use October 7 as a political weapon
The publication of this exclusive comes just days after Netanyahu sparked strong controversy in Israel by accusing senior military and security officials of deliberately deciding not to wake him up in the early hours of October 7, 2023, in statements that the opposition and security officials have labeled as an electoral “conspiracy theory.”
A few weeks before the legislative elections in Israel, in which Netanyahu is vying for re-election as leader, the October 7 attacks have become the main topic of the electoral campaigns of the main candidates, using the event as a political weapon. A few weeks ago, Netanyahu’s wife echoed a conspiracy theory accusing former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, the main opposition leader, of knowing Hamas’s intention before the massacre.
After the publication of the Haaretz article, the Israeli opposition collectively accused Netanyahu of ignoring warnings about a possible attack. Eisenkot stated that there are “increasing signs” that the prime minister “blindly led Israel to failure” and announced that he will promote a state commission to determine what he knew and when he knew it.
