Netanyahu Threatens to Sue Haaretz Over Report of UAE Warning Before October 7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a legal warning letter today (Wednesday) to Haaretz and three journalists, following a report that he received a warning from the United Arab Emirates before October 7. Netanyahu is demanding that the article be removed, that an apology be published, and that 1 million shekels be paid within 72 hours, or else a lawsuit for more than 2.5 million shekels will be filed.

The letter followed an article published yesterday as the newspaper’s front-page headline, which said that Netanyahu received a warning about Yahya Sinwar’s intentions about a week and a half before the October 7 attack, but did not pass the information on to the heads of Israel’s security establishment.

In the warning letter, the prime minister rejected the claims, calling them “a baseless fabrication and a malicious misrepresentation.” Through his attorney, Uriel Nizri, Netanyahu argues that he received no such call or warning, neither from the president of the United Arab Emirates nor from Egypt. The letter claims that the publication was intended to harm the prime minister and improperly influence the election results.

In a statement to the media, Netanyahu’s office said: “The prime minister instructed his lawyers to file a defamation lawsuit against the left-wing newspaper Haaretz, Shlomi Eldar, and other parties who fabricated a false accusation against the prime minister, one that never happened and was never created. Contrary to what was claimed, from the beginning of September through October 7, no conversation took place between the prime minister and the president of the United Arab Emirates. The Prime Minister’s Office, the National Security Council, and the military secretariat carefully checked the prime minister’s call log from those days and found no trace of it. Generally, diplomatic conversations between the prime minister and the president of the Emirates take place exclusively at the Prime Minister’s Office, through an Emirati representative who comes to the office with a special encrypted device.”

“All of these conversations are documented. Eldar himself said last night in an interview with Channel 12 that the conversation he claims took place, in which he said the prime minister was warned, was conducted in this way. But a thorough review conducted not only of the prime minister’s call log, but also of records of entries to the Prime Minister’s Office during this period, shows no entry by an Emirati representative to the Prime Minister’s Office. There is no way to enter the Prime Minister’s Office without documentation and registration by the security personnel at the facility.”

“Eldar also lied when he said Egypt warned the prime minister about a possible attack, a claim that was disproven at the start of the war. All of this proves that this is a malicious accusation with clear political timing, as part of the left’s election campaign, and there will be more such false accusations. This accusation was intended to distract from what the public already understands. Ronen Bar and Herzi Halevi saw all the warning signs many hours before the attack began. If, instead of fearing a miscalculation, they had instructed the IDF, the Shin Bet, and the local emergency squads to act preemptively, and if they had updated Prime Minister Netanyahu in time, the terrible massacre could have been prevented.”

Haaretz responded that it “stands behind the report.” The United Arab Emirates declined last night to confirm or deny the report.