The political storm engulfing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over reports of additional foreign warnings about Hamas’ 7 October attack expanded on Saturday and Sunday when more revelations surfaced amid the looming Israeli elections, with the Israeli premier countering with a fiery and defiant speech about Israel’s defence at the UN. The New York Times on Saturday confirmed a previous Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz report that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed secretly warned Netanyahu of the Hamas’ 7 October attack and that Israel’s premier did not pass on the warning to his security officials. Also on Saturday, the US news magazine The Atlantic reported that Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel secretly visited Israel 11 days before 7 October attack to warn of a significant Hamas attack.
And on Sunday, former Israeli Defence minister Yoav Gallant told the Israeli Army Radio that Israel received a message from Hamas through Israeli internal national security agency Shin Bet channels weeks before the 7 October attack, in which the then Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar warned that he would "shake the prisons". The revelations come at a time when Israel’s election campaign is in full swing for the vote next month and Netanyahu’s handling of the 7 October attack is a key issue in the campaign. The revelations also coincide with the prime minister's fiery speech at the UN General Assembly, widely considered asa message to the voters in Israel.
Israel’s opposition leaders have launched a series of scathing attacks on Netanyahu, calling for an investigation into the warnings that Israel’s prime minister allegedly received in the run-up to the attacks and whether he ignored them. The prime minister’s office (PMO) repeatedly denied the media reports calling them false. Haaretz previously reported that 10 days before the attack, the UAE president allegedly warned Netanyahu in a 45-minute-call that the leader of Hamas in Gaza at the time, Yahya Sinwar, was planning a major attack against Israel.
The Haaretz report claimed Netanyahu "reacted with relative calm" and assured bin Zayed that Israel was prepared for any scenario. At the time, Netanyahu's office called the report "an absolute lie" and denied he spoke to the Emirati leader. "The press reports are false.
No warning was given to the prime minister from the United Arab Emirates before 7 October," the PMO said in a statement. But on Saturday, the New York Times published its own extensive investigation citing multiple officials matching the Haaretz revelations, alleging that Netanyahu was warned by the Emirati president before the Hamas attack and that the warning was not shared with Israel security chiefs. In parallel with the New York Times report, the Atlantic published its own investigation alleging that on 26 September 2023, Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel made a secret 67-minute visit to Israel to warn of a possible Hamas attack, but the warning did not include specific details.
The Atlantic report said Kamel urged Israel to reduce tensions in the Gaza Strip and that it was not clear whom he met during his 1-hour long stay in Israel. According to The Atlantic, officials from seven countries told its journalists that such a short personal visit from Egypt’s intelligence chief himself should have been noticed by Israel’s political and security leadership and that Egyptian warnings allegedly continued until two days before the attack, but still without further specifics. Just days after the 7 October attack, the PMO said that Netanyahu "has not spoken or met with the head of Egyptian intelligence since the establishment of the government, neither directly nor indirectly".
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