Netanyahu sues Haaretz over report of pre-October 7 UAE warning

Benjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday that he will pursue legal action against Haaretz newspaper and two of its journalists over a report published the day before. The story, written by Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yaval, claimed that Mohammed bin Zayed, the president of the United Arab Emirates, had telephoned Netanyahu ten days before the October 7, 2023 attacks to warn him of an impending Hamas offensive. Netanyahu called the report "fabricated" and "false" in a statement posted to X, and said his legal team had been instructed to sue both the newspaper and its authors.

The Haaretz account alleged that bin Zayed, commonly known as MBZ, had received intelligence through intermediaries suggesting that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning what he called a "huge surprise." According to the report, Sinwar had told contacts to warn Israel to "expect an earthquake." The UAE president and his advisors interpreted these signals as evidence of a major coordinated attack and passed the information to Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency. The report stated that Shin Bet dismissed the threat, and that MBZ then raised the warning directly with Netanyahu, who also set it aside.

On October 7, 2023, Palestinian fighters killed at least 1,195 people in southern Israel and took approximately 251 others captive. The attacks triggered an Israeli military campaign in Gaza that has resulted in the deaths of at least 73,669 Palestinians. The question of what intelligence Israel possessed before the assault, and how seriously it was treated, has remained a point of intense scrutiny and political contention.

Netanyahu's response centered on two main denials. He stated that his National Security Council and Military Secretary had reviewed his call logs for the relevant period and found no record of any conversation with MBZ. He also characterized the Haaretz report as "politically motivated" and part of what he called the "left's election campaign," a reference to the October Knesset elections in which he is seeking to retain his position as prime minister. Current polling shows Netanyahu trailing former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.

In an additional statement, Netanyahu claimed that Muhammad Dahlan, a Palestinian political figure who was expelled from Fatah in 2011 following a power struggle with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, was responsible for orchestrating the false report. Dahlan, who now lives in the UAE, has been accused by Netanyahu of being the source behind the story. Representatives for Dahlan rejected the allegation, according to Israeli media reports.

The UAE government declined to engage with the substance of the allegations. Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a brief statement saying that "the UAE government does not comment on media stories or speculation regarding conversations between government leaders." The ministry offered no confirmation or denial of the reported phone call or the intelligence warning.

The dispute arrives at a moment of significant political vulnerability for Netanyahu. With elections scheduled for October, he faces a competitive race and has been working to consolidate support. The Haaretz report, regardless of its accuracy, raises questions about pre-attack intelligence assessments and decision-making at the highest levels of Israeli government—questions that have shadowed Netanyahu's leadership since October 7 and that his political opponents have repeatedly pressed. His aggressive legal response signals an intent to discredit the story and its authors before the election cycle intensifies.