Gaza Genocide · 08 September, 2026 · 3 min read
UAE Refuses To Comment After Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Warned Netanyahu Before Oct. 7
Haaretz reported MBZ warned Netanyahu days before Oct 7 about Hamas operation. Netanyahu's office denied any warning, calling Haaretz report a lie.
71 outlets, one story, no spin found.
6 of 8 outlets skipped it: a Palestinian intermediary warned the UAE/Israel via a Sinwar message..
The Jerusalem Post was read line by line by the Watchdog: 6.6. See the score →
71outlets compared
UAE warning dispute
The United Arab Emirates refused to comment on reports that UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the October 7, 2023 attack carried out by Hamas, which the UAE called the "Odyssey of Al-Aqsa."
“the UAE’s efforts have focused on de-escalation, promoting regional stability, and reducing violence.”
In a statement published on X, the UAE Foreign Ministry said, "since October 7, the UAE’s efforts have focused on de-escalation, promoting regional stability, and reducing violence."
The UAE statement also said that "when necessary, all related intelligence information has been exchanged and continues to be exchanged between the concerned authorities."
The dispute centers on a Haaretz report that said bin Zayed warned Netanyahu during a telephone call on September 23, 2023, about Hamas’s intention to carry out an attack, while Netanyahu’s office denied he received any warnings and said any relevant information was passed through intelligence channels.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett confirmed the accuracy of the Haaretz report and blamed Netanyahu for the failure that led to the killing of thousands of Israelis during his tenure.
Backlash and rival claims
Israeli opposition figures seized on the Haaretz account, with Gadi Eisenkot accusing Netanyahu of ignoring dozens of warnings ahead of the attack and writing, "He is unfit," on social media.
Naftali Bennett said, "Netanyahu bears personal and direct responsibility for the failure that led to the deaths of thousands of Israelis on his watch," as the dispute played out during Israel’s election campaign.
The UAE Foreign Ministry said it would not comment on "speculation regarding conversations between government leaders," while Netanyahu’s office rejected the report as an "absolute lie" and said Netanyahu did not speak with the UAE president "during the period in question and received no warning from him."
The AP report said Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage in the Oct. 7 attack, and it said hundreds of Israelis, mostly soldiers, have been killed in continued fighting in wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
The political fallout was framed by CNN as a backlash over whether Netanyahu updated the security establishment, with opposition leaders issuing a joint statement demanding "an immediate and thorough investigation" into Netanyahu’s "failures and malfunctioning."
What the warning meant
The Haaretz-based account described a warning that bin Zayed said would lead to bloodshed and could destabilize the region and undermine the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab and Muslim-majority nations.
“But Netanyahu “reacted with relative calm,” according to Haaretz”
AP reported that bin Zayed spoke with Netanyahu 10 days before the attack and said Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza at the time, was planning an operation, while Haaretz said Netanyahu "reacted with relative calm."
The Guardian said the claim came from a book by Haaretz reporters and alleged that bin Zayed warned Netanyahu a week before the October 7, 2023 attack, while Netanyahu’s office denied he spoke to the Emirati leader and said, "If there was any relevant information, it was passed through intelligence channels between the two countries."
In the same Haaretz-linked narrative, the Guardian reported that Sinwar warned a former Palestinian official about a "terrifying operation" described as an "earthquake," and it said the allegations were contained in the book Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment.
The stakes were tied to Gaza’s war and the scale of casualties cited in the reporting, with AP saying Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,650 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and Al-Jazeera Net saying Israel has committed what it describes as genocide in Gaza, leaving more than 73,000 martyrs and more than 174,000 Palestinians injured.