Netanyahu Denies Warnings Before Oct. 7, Blames Shin Bet Chief

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vehemently denied reports claiming he received intelligence warnings from Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel in the days leading up to the October 7th Hamas attack. Netanyahu announced on Monday that he has "instructed to file a defamation lawsuit" regarding these reports. His office stated that Netanyahu did not meet or speak with Kamel in the months prior to October 7th, nor did any Israeli intelligence source relay a warning from Egypt to him. The Prime Minister's office also asserted that Netanyahu does not meet or speak with foreign intelligence chiefs without their Israeli counterparts present.

Netanyahu further alleged that the reports are part of a "vile and false campaign" aimed at blaming him for the failures of Ronen Bar, the current head of the Shin Bet. He claimed that on the night of October 7th, the then-Shin Bet chief held numerous conversations with former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and former head of Military Intelligence Aharon Haliva about warning signs, but "decided not to call and update the Prime Minister, not to alert the reserve units and forces in the field, and not to evacuate the Nova party," which Netanyahu argued "proves he knew of a real danger."

The Prime Minister's office also suggested that foreign entities and countries, including Arab nations, are behind these reports with the goal of "overthrowing the right-wing government and replacing it with a left-wing government and Arab parties led by [Benny] Gantz, [Yair] Golan, and [Avigdor] Lieberman, which would withdraw from all territories and establish a Palestinian state."

Earlier on Monday, following reports of Netanyahu's secret trip to the UAE, a source told the Associated Press that during a meeting with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, Netanyahu requested he deny reports that he had warned him about the Hamas attack. The Prime Minister's office did not comment on this. The New York Times reported on Friday that five senior Israeli officials told the paper that Netanyahu was indeed warned by bin Zayed and did not relay this information to security chiefs in a briefing on October 1st, 2023, six days before the attack.

Further reports from The Wall Street Journal indicated that the former Egyptian intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, warned Netanyahu at least three times before the attack, with the third warning coming in early October after previous warnings were ignored. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Kamel visited Israel on September 26th, 2023, eleven days before the attack, and warned of a large-scale operation planned by Hamas. A former Israeli official briefed on the visit stated Kamel's message was stark: "If you don't change course, Gaza is about to explode in your face." However, Kamel did not provide a precise date or specific details about the attack's nature, and it remains unclear whom he met with in Israel. Flight logs show the Egyptian plane was on the ground in Israel for only 67 minutes.