Netanyahu Sues Haaretz Over Report Claiming UAE Warning Before Oct. 7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday he has instructed his lawyers to file a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper Haaretz, journalist Schlomo Eldar, and others, accusing them of fabricating a false story about him. Netanyahu asserts that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed did not warn him of Hamas's October 7th attack plans.

Haaretz, however, stands by its report, which cited a senior Middle Eastern intelligence source confirming the UAE had issued a warning. The newspaper's report detailed a secret communication channel used between Netanyahu and bin Zayed, involving encrypted phones delivered to the Prime Minister's office and destroyed immediately after use to ensure discretion.

Netanyahu's legal team sent a letter demanding Haaretz retract the article, issue a public apology and denial, and pay NIS 1 million in damages. Failure to comply could result in a lawsuit exceeding NIS 2.5 million. Netanyahu claims no record exists of any conversation between him and the UAE president between early September and October 7th, nor any entry of an Emirati representative into his office during that period, which he states would be impossible without documentation.

He further alleged that military secretary Avi Gil, who would have been the appropriate official present for such a conversation, was not in the office that day. Netanyahu also denied reports that Egypt had issued a similar warning, calling the claims a "malicious fabrication with clear political timing." He suggested that military and intelligence leaders, including IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, saw signs of the impending attack hours before it began and could have prevented the massacre if they had acted and updated him sooner.