Netanyahu Reportedly Ignored Oct. 7 Warning From UAE Leader Before Hamas Killed About 1,200
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 25
Netanyahu Reportedly Ignored Oct. 7 Warning From UAE Leader Before Hamas Killed About 1,200
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 25
Summary
Two people told The New York Times that UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed secretly warned Benjamin Netanyahu before Oct. 7, 2023 that Hamas was considering a major attack.
Five former senior Israeli officials said the warning never reached Israel’s security chiefs, and minutes reviewed by the Times show Netanyahu omitted it at an Oct. 1 Gaza meeting.
At that meeting, Netanyahu instead urged maintaining calm in Gaza and resisted proposals to consider strikes on senior Hamas leaders directing West Bank attacks.
The report lands weeks before Israel’s election, with Netanyahu seeking a seventh term as responsibility for the Oct. 7 failures becomes a central campaign issue; he has denied the warning report.
If the UAE president truly warned Netanyahu, why did the Prime Minister urge calm in Gaza while hiding the threat from his security chiefs?
Will the mounting pressure for an independent inquiry finally expose what Israel's leadership truly knew in the days before October 7?
Ignored Warnings, Political Upheaval: How the UAE’s October 7 Alert Shaped Israel’s 2026 Election and Netanyahu’s Fate
Overview
The 2026 Israeli election has become a dramatic referendum on Prime Minister Netanyahu after revelations that he received a direct warning from the UAE President about Hamas’s planned October 7, 2023 attack, but dismissed the threat and failed to inform top security chiefs. This warning followed earlier alerts from both Hamas intermediaries and Egyptian intelligence, all of which were downplayed or misinterpreted due to entrenched beliefs that Hamas was deterred and focused on governance. As a result, Israel was unprepared for the attack, sparking fierce opposition demands for accountability, failed attempts by Netanyahu’s coalition to control the inquiry process, and deepening political and diplomatic fallout.