Netanyahu Denies Egyptian Warning, Blames Shin Bet Chief

The Prime Minister's Office vehemently denied reports that former Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel had warned Benjamin Netanyahu about the October 7th Hamas attack. The PMO stated that Netanyahu had neither met nor spoken with Kamel in the months preceding the attack, and that no Israeli intelligence source conveyed an Egyptian warning to him. Netanyahu has also ordered a defamation lawsuit to be filed regarding the matter.

In its statement, the PMO accused former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar of failing to update Netanyahu, emergency response teams, or ground forces on accumulating signs of an impending attack on the night of October 7th. The office claimed Bar spoke with then-IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and then-Head of Military Intelligence Aharon Haliva about these signs but did not alert the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister's Office further characterized the recent publications as a "despicable and false campaign" against Netanyahu. It alleged that foreign entities and countries are involved in an effort to assign responsibility for the failures to the Prime Minister and to bring about the replacement of his government.

This response follows a Wall Street Journal report claiming Kamel directly contacted Netanyahu in early October 2023, warning of a potential attack from Gaza. According to the report, Egypt had previously issued two additional warnings and continued to alert Israel up to approximately 48 hours before the massacre, though these warnings did not specify an exact date or the full scope of the planned assault.