Fresh investigative reporting reveals that UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan personally warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about a major Hamas operation roughly ten days before the October 7, 2023 attacks. According to details published by Haaretz and drawn from a forthcoming book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, the two leaders spoke for 45 minutes. The Emirati leader explicitly cautioned that then-Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar was plotting an operation that would trigger severe bloodshed, destabilize the region, and threaten the Abraham Accords.
Yet, this urgent alert reportedly met with casual dismissal. Netanyahu allegedly responded with a calm demeanor, reassuring the UAE president that Israel had the situation under control and speculating that any potential threat would originate in the West Bank rather than Gaza.
How the Warning Traveled
Intelligence seldom moves in a straight line. In September 2023, Yahya Sinwar allegedly communicated through a Palestinian intermediary with ties to both Hamas and Israeli security figures. Sinwar warned that he was preparing a "zilzal," or an earthquake, describing his intentions as "the mother of all surprises" and a "terrifying operation".
This intelligence reached a close adviser to the UAE president, which prompted Mohamed bin Zayed to pick up the phone. Separate reports also indicate that Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel issued a similar caution around the same timeframe, warning of an unusual, high-stakes operation being hatched in Gaza.
Despite these high-level warnings from regional allies, key Israeli security chiefs—including former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and former IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi—reportedly stated they were never briefed on the specific phone call between Netanyahu and the Emirati leader.
The Political Fallout and Denials
The publication of these findings has detonated a firestorm within Israeli politics. Opposition figures and political rivals wasted no time seizing on the report to intensify criticism of Netanyahu's handling of national security. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett publicly stated that he knew the report's core claims were true, while former military commander Gadi Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of ignoring numerous warnings and declared him unfit for office.
Conversely, the Prime Minister's Office issued a swift and flat denial, describing the report as "an absolute lie". Netanyahu's office maintained that no such conversation took place between the Israeli premier and the UAE president during the specified timeframe, and that zero warnings were received from that channel.
Why This Revelatory Detail Shifts the Debate
For months, post-October 7 investigations focused heavily on military intelligence blind spots, tactical failures, and a pervasive institutional mindset that viewed Hamas as contained or deterred. This new report shifts the spotlight squarely onto political leadership and direct diplomatic channels. If foreign heads of state were picking up signals of an impending "earthquake" and relaying them directly to the top of Israel's government, the core question changes from what the intelligence community missed to what political leaders chose to do with the information in their possession.
As political campaigns and public demands for independent inquiries continue to mount, this new chapter ensures that accountability for the intelligence failures of late 2023 remains front and center in public discourse.
