UAE official denies Abu Dhabi's MBZ warned Netanyahu of large-scale attack ahead of Oct. 7 - report
Abu Dhabi's state-owned English-language newspaper, "The National," described the statement as rejecting recent claims that a direct warning had been conveyed to Netanyahu.
The United Arab Emirates has firmly denied reports that President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ) had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a potential large-scale attack ahead of the Hamas assault on October 7, 2023. A spokesman for Abu Dhabi stated that the UAE only discusses sensitive security matters through appropriate channels, not at the level of heads of state.
The newspaper, The National, reported the denial after Haaretz published an investigation claiming MBZ called Netanyahu about a week and a half prior to the attack, warning Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' leader at the time, of a significant action against Israel. The call, reportedly lasting around 45 minutes, did not result in the information being relayed to Israeli security officials.
Netanyahu's office dismissed the Haaretz report outright, maintaining that no such conversation occurred and that the prime minister was never warned. Subsequently, the UAE Foreign Ministry issued a more cautious response on September 8, declining to confirm or deny the conversation's existence, while affirming the presence of direct communication lines between Israeli and Emirati authorities and the sharing of relevant intelligence when deemed necessary.
The controversy has become a significant issue in Israel's political landscape, especially as the country gears up for elections, with debates swirling around which warnings, if any, reached the political leadership before the October 7 attack, who received them, and whether they were communicated to security personnel.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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