The Prime Minister's Office issued an official statement Tuesday evening denying that any warning was received from the United Arab Emirates before the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. The UAE's first formal response stated it does not respond to "media reports or speculation regarding conversations between government leaders," declining to confirm or deny the Haaretz report. According to other reports, the PM's office had expected the UAE to deny the story, with Palestinian and Gulf sources attributing the leak to former PA security chief Mohammed Dahlan.
Tuesday evening brought official responses from both Israel and the UAE to the Haaretz report alleging that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of an impending Hamas attack before October 7, 2023. The Prime Minister's Office issued an official statement at 20:10 Jerusalem time asserting that "no warning was given from the United Arab Emirates before the October 7 massacre." Separately, the UAE issued its first formal response at 20:23, stating it "does not respond to media reports or speculation regarding conversations between government leaders." Earlier, sources in the UAE had indicated they would neither confirm nor deny publications regarding "personal conversations of the Emir."
These developments follow a day of intensifying coverage. As The Zioneer reported at 10:25 Tuesday, the Haaretz investigation claimed that bin Zayed called Netanyahu ten days before the attack to warn of a major Hamas operation under Yahya Sinwar, and that Netanyahu concealed the warning from security chiefs. The PM's Office immediately dismissed the report as an "absolute lie." At 12:52, journalist Mendi Asraf reported, citing a senior source in Netanyahu's circle who reviewed call transcripts, that the last conversation between the two leaders before Oct. 7 was in early 2023, with a second call a week after the massacre.
At 17:45, a report citing Palestinian and Gulf sources said the PM's office expected the UAE to deny the story, and attributed the leak to former PA security chief Mohammed Dahlan, now an advisor to bin Zayed. By 20:43, The Zioneer reported that participants in critical pre-Oct. 7 discussions were breaking their silence, alleging no one in the room had known of any message from the UAE.
The official denials from Jerusalem and the UAE's reluctance to comment leave the report's central claim — that a senior leader directly warned Netanyahu of a specific threat — unsubstantiated and denied by both sides, though the UAE's position does not outright state the call never happened.
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