Legal affairs correspondent Avishai Greenzeig on Wednesday sharply criticized a Haaretz report alleging that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received advance warning from the United Arab Emirates about the October 7 Hamas massacre. Greenzeig described journalist Shlomi Eldar's article as "journalistic nonsense in my view, lacking even internal logic within the story itself." He further challenged the credibility of the report by pointing to its reliance on earlier disputed coverage. "What really strikes me as absurd is taking Smadar Peri's publication from October 9, 2023, which was denied by everyone, absolutely everyone, and whose factual claims shifted like plasticine, and then three years later treating that publication as absolute truth without any qualification, weaving it into Eldar's narrative," Greenzeig wrote.
Greenzeig Dismisses Netanyahu Warning Report
Legal correspondent calls Haaretz claim that UAE warned Netanyahu before October 7 "journalistic nonsense" lacking internal logic
Earlier on Wednesday, Israel's i24News reported that officials in the Biden administration were unaware of any concrete warning received from the UAE regarding Hamas planning a large-scale attack before the October 7 massacre.
According to the i24News report, based on statements from two sources familiar with the details, Biden administration officials heard nothing about such a specific UAE warning even in the period following October 7. The report noted, however, that the absence of knowledge within the Biden administration does not necessarily mean no warning was passed to Israeli officials.
The Haaretz article published Tuesday evening claimed that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed spoke with Netanyahu approximately a week and a half before the October 7 attack, warning him that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a significant move against Israel. According to the report, the Emirati president sought to alert Netanyahu to the possibility of developments that could lead to bloodshed and regional destabilization. The investigative piece further alleged that Netanyahu assessed the move bin Zayed supposedly warned about concerned Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), and that senior security officials were not briefed on the purported warning.
The UAE subsequently issued a statement that did not deny the conversation occurred, saying: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that the UAE government does not respond to media stories or speculation regarding conversations between government leaders." The statement added: "The UAE's engagement since October 7 has been consistently aimed at de-escalation, regional stability, and preventing violence."
The Emirati statement further clarified that "the UAE government and Israeli government officials maintain open and direct lines of communication since the establishment of relations between the countries more than five years ago"—a reference to the 2020 Abraham Accords. "When necessary, all relevant intelligence has been and continues to be shared between the relevant parties," the statement concluded.
