If the latest revelations by Israeli newspaper Haaretz are proved correct, Benjamin Netanyahu will have an even more damning question to answer than the one that has haunted him since October 7, 2023: What did he know, when did he know it – and why did he keep it to himself?
According to an investigation by Haaretz journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, UAE President Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan personally telephoned Netanyahu about 10 days before the Hamas assault.
The 45-minute conversation allegedly contained an explicit warning that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation against Israel – one that could cause bloodshed, destabilise the region and threaten the Abraham Accords.
Three senior foreign sources reportedly familiar with the conversation confirmed its substance to the investigators. Netanyahu has denied the allegation, calling it an ‘absolute lie’.
But if the report is corroborated, the implications are staggering: Netanyahu allegedly received a direct warning from a friendly Arab leader and failed to pass it on to Israel’s security chiefs.
The PM was warned – repeatedly
The UAE warning did not come in isolation. According to reports, Israeli military and security officials had been sounding alarms for months over the country’s deteriorating security situation.
Military Intelligence reportedly warned Netanyahu repeatedly about weakening Israeli deterrence. Former Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot warned that Israel was facing its most dangerous period since the Yom Kippur War.
Then-Shin Bet (Israel’s internal security and counterintelligence service) chief Ronen Bar warned of the danger of violent escalation, while then-IDF chief Herzi Halevi sought a meeting with Netanyahu before the controversial judicial legislation was passed.
Two weeks before October 7, former prime minister Yair Lapid publicly warned that Israel was ‘dangerously approaching a multi-front violent conflict’, citing unprecedented security alerts and growing tensions around Gaza.
And now, allegedly, came the warning from Abu Dhabi. If true, Netanyahu was not short of wake-up calls. He simply chose not to wake up.
From catastrophe to catastrophe
On October 7, Hamas and allied Palestinian armed groups killed about 1,200 people in Israel and abducted 251. The attack shattered Israel’s fundamental promise to protect its citizens. The Israeli military response then unleashed a war that devastated Gaza.
By September 2025, Gaza’s health ministry, as cited by the UN, had reported more than 64,000 Palestinian deaths and over 163,000 injuries. By 2026, the reported death toll had crossed 73,000.
The destruction has been equally staggering. A UN assessment found that by June 2026, more than 201,000 structures – about 82 per cent of all structures in Gaza – had been damaged, including more than 134,000 destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of homes were damaged and most of Gaza’s 2.1 million people remained displaced.
The tragedy, therefore, extends far beyond October 7. Israeli lives were lost, Palestinian lives were lost, homes were destroyed and an entire region was dragged into prolonged instability.
Netanyahu’s political reckoning
Hamas bears responsibility for the barbarity of October 7. But that does not absolve Israel’s leadership of responsibility for failures that may have allowed the attack to succeed.
Would the massacre certainly have been prevented had Netanyahu shared the warning? Nobody can honestly say. But heightened alert, troop deployment and reinforced border defences might have disrupted or reduced the scale of the assault.
Governments are judged not merely by the enemies they fight, but by the warnings they heed. Netanyahu built his political career as Mr Security. October 7 shattered that image.
With Israel heading for elections on October 27, the latest revelations could become politically devastating. The question facing voters is no longer merely how Netanyahu conducted the war.
It is whether the prime minister who promised to keep Israel safe failed to listen when the warning came – and failed to warn those whose job was to protect the country. That may ultimately be the most damning charge of all.
