Netanyahu to Sue Haaretz Over UAE Pre-Attack Warning Report — SkimNews
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- Netanyahu instructed his lawyers to begin defamation proceedings against Haaretz over a report that UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned him in late September 2023 that Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was planning a major operation he described as an "earthquake".
- Haaretz said the report was based on research for the book "Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment" by Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, citing three "foreign senior sources" and a Palestinian adviser to Sheikh Mohammed, and reported a UAE embassy representative brought a secure phone to Netanyahu's office for the confidential call.
- Netanyahu allegedly dismissed the warning, telling Sheikh Mohammed that Hamas intended to operate in the West Bank and that Israel was prepared; Haaretz reported he did not brief Shin Bet, Mossad, or the IDF chief of staff about the conversation.
- Sheikh Mohammed reportedly relayed the conversation to then-CIA director William J. Burns, according to the Haaretz report.
- Netanyahu's office denied any warning was given, calling the report a "sinister plot," while Haaretz stood by its story, saying the lawsuit's "sole purpose is to silence journalistic criticism."
- The UAE did not confirm or deny the specific call but said intelligence "continues to be communicated between the relevant entities" and stressed its post-7 October focus on de-escalation and regional stability.
- Four opposition leaders—Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman, and Yair Golan—issued a joint statement declaring Netanyahu and his partners "unfit to continue in office" and demanding an investigation, days before Israel's 27 October election widely seen as a referendum on his leadership.
Why it matters: The report lands weeks before Israel's 27 October election, already framed as a referendum on Netanyahu, and four opposition leaders have demanded an investigation while Netanyahu has resisted any independent public inquiry into the deadliest attack in Israeli history. The claim that he was personally warned, dismissed it, and didn't brief his intelligence chiefs hands his critics new evidence of negligence he cannot rebut with a state inquiry.
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