Israeli opposition leaders have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being unfit to remain in office following a report that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) warned him about a planned Hamas attack shortly before October 7, 2023.
Haaretz reported that UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan allegedly spoke with Netanyahu about a week and a half before the attack and warned him that Hamas was preparing a major operation.
Netanyahu’s office strongly denied the claim, describing the report by the left-leaning newspaper as “an absolute lie”. It also said Netanyahu did not speak with the Emirati leader at the time.
Gadi Eisenkot, a former military commander and one of Netanyahu’s leading rivals ahead of the October 27 elections, accused the prime minister of avoiding responsibility for the security failures surrounding the attack.
“Netanyahu received dozens of warnings for October 7 and ignored them all. He is unfit,” Eisenkot wrote on X.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who is also contesting the election, said Netanyahu bears “personal and direct responsibility” for the deaths recorded during the attack.
“Netanyahu cannot continue to serve in his position for even one more minute,” Bennett said.
Yair Golan, leader of the centre-left Democrats Party, also accused Netanyahu of endangering Israel.
“The stories about ‘no one woke me up’ are over. You knew, you ignored, you failed, you are to blame,” Golan said in a video posted on social media.
‘Earthquake’ warning
The report has renewed calls in Israel for an independent state commission of inquiry into the security failures that preceded the October 7 attack.
Opposition parties have pledged to establish such a commission as a priority if they win the election. Netanyahu’s government, however, has rejected the proposal.
According to Haaretz, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was later killed by Israel, had warned a former Palestinian official that the group was preparing a “terrifying operation” he described as an “earthquake”.
The former Palestinian official allegedly passed the warning to an Emirati adviser, who then relayed it to the UAE president. The Emirati leader subsequently contacted Netanyahu, according to the newspaper.
The UAE established diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords during Donald Trump’s first administration. Netanyahu has regarded the relationship as one of his key diplomatic achievements.
Haaretz, citing mostly anonymous sources, reported that Netanyahu responded calmly to the warning.
For years, Netanyahu had supported maintaining the status quo with Hamas, with the group receiving funding through Qatar under an arrangement based on the assessment that Hamas was more focused on its survival than launching a major war against Israel.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas fighters stormed into Israel, killing hundreds of people, including victims at a music festival, and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.
The attack killed 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Of the hostages taken to Gaza, 44 were already dead, according to the report.
Israel responded with a massive military offensive that has devastated much of Gaza. The Gaza health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, says 73,658 people have been killed. The United Nations considers the ministry’s figures reliable.
