Trump Doubts Netanyahu Ignored Warnings Before October 7th, Declines to Bac

U.S. President Donald Trump said he does not believe reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was warned by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates ahead of the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, in an interview with TIME magazine published Thursday.

Asked about the reports, Trump said he had heard about them for the first time that day and found the claim hard to imagine. He argued that if Netanyahu had known an attack was coming, he would have acted on it and at the very least put people on alert, calling October 7 a terrible day that the prime minister would not have overlooked.

Trump stopped short of endorsing Netanyahu ahead of Israel's October 27 election. Pressed repeatedly on whether Israelis should give Netanyahu another term, Trump said he was no longer involved in politics and instead pointed to his record on Israel, including moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and helping defend the country against Iran.

When asked whether the United States could work better with opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot if he wins, Trump said he did not know. "I don't hear bad things about him," he added, before asking who Eisenkot was. Told that the former IDF chief of staff is Netanyahu's leading challenger, Trump said people have written Netanyahu off many times, just as they have written him off, and warned against underestimating the prime minister.

The interview, conducted at the White House on September 28, comes as Netanyahu faces a wave of reports alleging that Arab partners warned him before the massacre. The New York Times and Haaretz reported that UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed warned Netanyahu of a major Hamas operation days before the attack, while other reports said Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel conveyed warnings as well.

Netanyahu has firmly denied receiving any such warning, calling the reports fabricated lies aimed at damaging him in the election. His office has noted that Egypt officially denied warning Israel shortly after the attack, and that Netanyahu neither met nor spoke with Kamel in the months before October 7. Likud has filed lawsuits against media outlets over the reports.

Eisenkot has made the allegations a central campaign issue, accusing Netanyahu of leading Israel blindly into the October 7 disaster and pledging to establish a state commission of inquiry once a new government is formed.

TIME also reported, citing a senior administration official, that relations between Trump and Netanyahu have grown more strained in recent months over the conduct of the war with Iran and Israeli strikes in Lebanon.