Netanyahu to sue Haaretz over alleged UAE warning before Oct. 7 attack

Tel Aviv – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rejected a report that United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had warned him of Hamas’s plans prior to the Oct. 7, 2023 assault that sparked the current war. The denial came after a senior UAE official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told a regional news outlet that the Emirate’s leadership had raised concerns about an imminent attack during a diplomatic meeting in early 2023.

Netanyahu’s office said no such warning was ever received and that Israel’s intelligence services had no prior indication of the scale of the Hamas operation. The statement was not accompanied by additional details, and the UAE’s foreign ministry declined to comment on the alleged conversation. The dispute highlights ongoing diplomatic sensitivities as Israel and several Gulf states navigate cooperation on security and normalization amid the broader regional fallout from the conflict.