UAE Silent on Report of Pre-War Warning to Netanyahu

The United Arab Emirates has maintained complete silence regarding a report published Tuesday by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which claimed that UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed had issued a direct warning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just days before the October 7th Hamas attacks. In its first official statement, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, "The United Arab Emirates does not comment on stories or speculation in the media regarding conversations between leaders. Governmental bodies of the United Arab Emirates and Israel have maintained open and direct communication channels since the establishment of relations over five years ago. When required, all relevant intelligence was and continues to be transferred between the relevant bodies."

Emirati officials are generally highly sensitive about any publications concerning their president, especially those portraying him as having attempted to help Israel defend itself and thwart the Hamas attack. An Emirati parliamentary source told Kan News, "This is a sensitive issue. No one in the Emirates is talking about it."

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office issued an official statement calling the report false. "No warning was given to the Prime Minister by the United Arab Emirates before October 7th. If there was any relevant information, it was transferred through intelligence channels between the two countries."

However, the report suggests the catalyst for the alleged conversation was not the UAE president or Prime Minister Netanyahu directly, but a former senior Fatah official, Mohammed Dahlan, who resides in Abu Dhabi and originally hails from the Gaza Strip. The Haaretz report implies Dahlan, who is supported by the UAE, is the Palestinian advisor mentioned.

The article notes that if such a conversation did occur, it might not have been an explicit warning as described, but rather one piece of a larger puzzle that should have alerted both political and security echelons.