Benjamin Netanyahu says ex-security chiefs had warning "many hours before the start of the attack"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pursuing a libel action against Haaretz, journalist Shlomi Eldar, and others over an investigation claiming that the UAE president warned him ahead of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack. The report says Mohamed bin Zayed phoned Netanyahu roughly ten days earlier, cautioning that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing an assault that could destabilize the region and threaten the Abraham Accords. Netanyahu denies any such call, saying official records show no contact, while the UAE has neither confirmed nor denied the account. Announcing the lawsuit, Netanyahu also faulted former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and former military chief Herzi Halevi, asserting that they possessed sufficient warning in advance and could have averted the incursion by deploying security forces and notifying him.