SALAR NEWS

‘Netanyahu was warned about 7 Oct a week in advance but did nothing’

UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September 2023 to warn him

Salar News

Tel Aviv, 8 Sept

United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September 2023 to warn him that former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a a 'Zilzal', or an earthquake. And Netanyahu did nothing, Haaretz reported, citing sources both in the UAE and the Shin Bet.

In the 45-minute phone conversation about a week before the 7 October terrorist attack in which 1,200 people were killed and Hamas took 250 people hostage, bin Zayed asked Netanyahu to take the warning seriously and beef up security, warning that “something will explode”, according to Haaretz.

But Netanyahu, who was reportedly calm during the conversation, assured bin Zayed that Israel was prepared for the threat.

Netanyahu also did not report the conversation to the heads of Shin Bet, Mossad, or the Israel Defence Forces.

The Emirati ruler later told CIA Director William J Burns about his conversation with Netanyahu.

While there have been claims that the Israeli government was aware that Hamas was planning a terrorist attack, the Haaretz report indicates that any potential intelligence lapses begin and end with Netanyahu.

Netanyahu had last week blamed the heads of the intelligence agencies for “deliberately” not walking him up when the 7 October attack began.

“Why didn't they wake me? Because they knew that I, as Prime Minister, would immediately have put the entire army on alert, wake up all the towns (on the Gaza border),” he said in a podcast. “It's so obvious that all of this could have been done. This has been hidden from the public."

The report also comes barely a month away from the crucial Israeli elections.

Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot and one of the main challengers against Netanyahu in the upcoming Israeli elections stated on X that, “Netanyahu received dozens of warnings about October 7 and ignored them all. He is unfit for office”, and that a government under Eisenkot will open a probe into Netanyahu’s negligence.

Eisenkot is considered more on the Left in Israel and is mulling forming a coalition with Arab-Palestinian parties to try and secure a majority.

Similarly, LoP in the Knesset and also a prime minister contender Yair Lapid in a video message on X said that he too warned Netanyahu three weeks before 7 October.

“The Egyptians say they warned him. The Chief of Staff, the head of the Shin Bet, the head of Military Intelligence—all of them warned him,” Lapid, a Centrist, added.

Naftali Bennett, former prime minister and another frontrunner, also stated that Netanyahu “displayed criminal negligence”, and bore “direct responsibility” for the terrorist attacks. Bennet wants to target Qatar over its financing to Gaza.