Gaza Genocide · 08 September, 2026 · 3 min read
UAE Declines To Comment After Haaretz Report Sheikh Mohammed Warned Netanyahu Before Oct. 7
UAE declined to comment on reports it warned Netanyahu before Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack. Haaretz report says MBZ warned of major Hamas operation days before Oct 7; Netanyahu denies.
UAE stance: neither denial nor confirmation versus explicit confirmation needed.
5 of 7 outlets skipped it: haaretz says UAE warning worried about disrupting Abraham Accords.
www.jpost › Israel News › Defense News was read line by line by the Watchdog: 6.6. See the score →
91outlets compared
Same story, two versions
tap a side to read it in full
Al-Jazirah Net
“it does not comment on reports or speculation”
Translated from the original.
Read the original ↗AP News
“would not comment on “speculation regarding conversations between government leaders”Read the original ↗
Some outlets underline silence as non-confirmation, others stress intelligence-channel continuity.
UAE warning claim
The UAE declined to comment on reports that its president warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the October 7, 2023 attack, with the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying it does not comment on “speculation regarding conversations between government leaders.”
“The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday that it does not comment on reports or speculation”
The dispute centers on a Haaretz report that UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned Netanyahu in a phone call on September 23, 2023 about Hamas’s intention to carry out an attack, a claim Netanyahu’s office denied.
AP reported that Haaretz said bin Zayed spoke with Netanyahu 10 days before the attack and warned that Yahya Sinwar was planning a major offensive, while Netanyahu’s office called the report an “absolute lie” and said Netanyahu did not receive any warning from him.
Al-Jazirah Net also reported that former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett confirmed the accuracy of Haaretz’s report and placed personal responsibility on Netanyahu for the failure that led to thousands of Israelis’ deaths.A
The same sources tied the alleged warning to the October 7 attack in which Hamas militants killed and captured dozens of Israelis, with Hamas saying the attack came in response to “daily occupation crimes against the Palestinian people and their sanctities, especially al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Backlash and denials
Israeli opposition leaders seized on the warning allegation as an election issue, with CNN reporting that four opposition party leaders issued a joint statement calling for “an immediate and thorough investigation” into Netanyahu’s “failures and malfunctioning.”
CNN quoted the statement’s demand that “The Israeli public is entitled to know: What did Netanyahu know, when did he know, why he didn’t update the security establishment, and why he didn’t act to protect Israeli civilians?”
Netanyahu’s office rejected the account, and Deutsche Welle reported that it denied Haaretz’s claim that he received a warning before October 7, saying “No warning was given to the Prime Minister from the United Arab Emirates before October 7.”
Deutsche Welle also said the UAE Foreign Ministry did not explicitly confirm the report but stated that “When necessary, all relevant intelligence has been and continue to be communicated between the relevant entities.”
CNN added that Haaretz’s account was based on findings from an upcoming book by Israeli journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruti Yuval, and it said Eldar told CNN’s Jake Tapper, “It’s true.”
War toll and stakes
The warning controversy is playing out alongside the war that followed the October 7 attack, with AP saying Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,650 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
“Israel is holding national elections next month and Netanyahu’s actions”
AP also reported that Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostage in the October 7 attack, figures that frame the scale of the conflict described across the coverage.
Al-Jazirah Net said Israel, with American backing, has committed what it describes as genocide in Gaza, leaving more than 73,000 martyrs and over 174,000 injured Palestinians, the majority of them women and children.A
The Guardian reported that opposition leaders described Netanyahu as “unfit” and said their joint statement asked why he did not inform the security establishment and why he did not act to protect Israeli citizens.
In the same dispute, the UAE again emphasized de-escalation and communication channels, with Euronews reporting the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government does not comment on “media stories or speculation,” while Netanyahu’s office denied that any warning was directed to him before October 7.