NYT Report Claims UAE President Warned Netanyahu of Hamas Attack

A report by The New York Times, echoing earlier claims from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, alleges that UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed secretly warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September 2023 about an impending large-scale Hamas attack. According to the report, two sources confirmed to the Times that the UAE leader conveyed this information in a private phone call, though the warning lacked precise technical details about the planned invasion.

Despite Netanyahu's strong denial of the report, sources close to the matter indicated that Sheikh Mohamed reiterated the conversation's content months later to then-CIA Director William Burns. Crucially, the critical intelligence was allegedly never passed on to the heads of Israel's security establishment. Days after the alleged call, on October 1, 2023, Netanyahu convened a meeting with security chiefs to discuss the situation in Gaza. The report suggests that during this meeting, the Prime Minister did not mention the secret warning he had received from the UAE president.

During that October meeting, Netanyahu reportedly urged maintaining calm in Gaza and opposed calls from senior officials to conduct targeted military operations against Hamas leaders responsible for attacks in the West Bank. He explained that military action could jeopardize prospects for a historic diplomatic agreement and normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia. The early warning, in hindsight, proved entirely accurate.

On October 7, 2023, thousands of Hamas terrorists breached the border, killing approximately 1,200 people and abducting around 250 civilians and soldiers. The report notes that Israel's security apparatus had downplayed numerous warning signs in the years leading up to the attack. The IDF itself possessed Hamas's "Jericho Wall" battle plan since 2022, but it was dismissed by senior leadership as an unrealistic scenario. Netanyahu himself believed Hamas was deterred and instructed the security establishment to adopt a policy of avoiding confrontation, maintaining the terrorist organization as a restrained governing body focused on civilian management of the Strip.

The Likud party issued a strong response to the New York Times report, calling it a "flood of false publications by mobilized left-wing journalists" aimed at undermining the right-wing government ahead of upcoming elections. The party asserted that despite UAE denials and the Prime Minister's office proving no such conversation occurred, the newspaper continues to spread the "lie," citing the "anti-Zionist" New York Times for publishing "blood libels" and biased coverage of the Gaza conflict.