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Netanyahu Admits Egyptian Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel Visited Israel Before October 7 Attack
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Abbas Kamel visited Israel about 11 days before the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. Netanyahu said he did not meet with Kamel during the visit.
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Netanyahu admits Kamel visit
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged in a Channel 14 interview that Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel landed in Israel about a week and a half before the October 7, 2023 attack, while Netanyahu said he did not meet him and expressed doubt about the identity of the person he met during the visit. Netanyahu told Channel 14, "I want to know with whom he met," and he asked, "Do you want to see the deep state?" as he said Kamel spent 59 minutes in Israel addressing security and legal apparatus. Netanyahu said Kamel "did not meet me because I was at a memorial service for Israeli soldiers," and he argued that "Since when does the head of intelligence talk to the head of a state?"
“Netanyahu told Channel 14 in an interview that Kamel ‘did not meet me because I was at a memorial service for Israeli soldiers.’”
The Atlantic investigation cited in the reporting said Kamel arrived in Israel on September 26, 2023, stayed for 67 minutes, and warned that "Gaza will explode in your faces" if Israel did not change its policy. The reporting also said an Israeli official told The Atlantic, "The envoy himself was the message," while Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth had previously reported the plane’s landing without revealing the guest’s identity.
Warnings, denials, and scrutiny
Netanyahu’s admission came after his office had denied receiving warnings from Egypt, and the reporting said Netanyahu’s office stated that Egypt "officially denied" on October 11, 2023 that it had warned Israel. The reporting described a prior dispute in which Netanyahu’s statements about not being accustomed to contacting heads of foreign intelligence agencies conflicted with a video released by his office two years earlier showing Netanyahu shaking hands with Kamel at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. The Atlantic investigation cited in the reporting said Kamel warned that Hamas was preparing a major attack and urged Israel to offer economic concessions, and it quoted Kamel as saying, "Gaza is going to blow up in your faces" if Israel did not change its policy.
The Wall Street Journal, as described in the reporting, said Kamel called Netanyahu at the beginning of October 2023 to warn of an imminent attack after two earlier Egyptian warnings had not been given attention. The reporting also said opposition lawmakers warned Netanyahu may ignite an escalation for political purposes ahead of the October 27 vote, and it quoted Yair Golan saying, "the writing's on the wall, in letters of blood and fire."
Who met Kamel, and what next
Netanyahu said the unanswered question was who met with Kamel during the visit, and he told Channel 14, "I want to know who he met with," while he said he was attending a memorial ceremony for fallen IDF soldiers. Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana told Kan public radio that Kamel arrived 11 days before the attack and apparently met a senior security official, and Ohana said, "The question is whom," as he added, "He met someone here." The reporting said the episode renewed scrutiny over what Israeli officials knew in the period before the October 7 attack and who received warnings from regional partners, including reporting that a UAE warning was not relayed to security chiefs.
“No early message came from Egypt and the prime minister did not speak or meet with the intelligence chief since the establishment of the government — not indirectly or directly.”
The Times of Israel reporting quoted Netanyahu’s statement denying the warnings, saying, "No early message came from Egypt and the prime minister did not speak or meet with the intelligence chief since the establishment of the government — not indirectly or directly." Netanyahu also used the Channel 14 interview to outline plans for Gaza and the West Bank, saying his plan for Gaza is "simply to eliminate Hamas" and that Israel will use "massive force" if needed against Palestinian Authority security forces.