Netanyahu in need of explanation

Was he warned? At a demonstration in Tel Aviv against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the occasion of 1,000 days since October 7, 2023, Tel Aviv, July 2, 2026

Jerusalem. Less than two months before the Israeli parliamentary elections on October 27th, a report by the Israeli daily Haaretz is making waves. According to her, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored a crucial warning about the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

The article by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval reports on a 45-minute phone call that United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed had with Netanyahu at the end of September 2023, just a week and a half before the Hamas attack. In it, the authoritarian Emirati head of state is said to have informed Netanyahu that the then leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, was planning a major operation against Israel. Sinwar himself threatened a Palestinian mediator in negotiations with Israel with an impending "earthquake," the article says. However, Netanyahu did not pass this warning on to the heads of the relevant Israeli security authorities.

The article said Netanyahu responded to the warning "relatively calmly" and said he believed Hamas was more likely to be planning an operation in the West Bank and that Israel was prepared for any scenario.

Citing an unnamed adviser to Mohammed bin Zayed who was said to have been present on the call, the article said Netanyahu responded to the warning "relatively calmly" and said that in his assessment Hamas was more likely to be planning an operation in the West Bank and that Israel was prepared for any scenario.

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