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Netanyahu Faces Political Backlash Following Report of UAE Warning Before October 7 Attack

14 sources across 11 countries

Who reported this

  • CNN United States · Centre-left · Warner Bros. Discovery
  • Al-Monitor United States · Centre · Jamal Daniel
  • Associated Press United States · Centre · Non-profit news cooperative
  • Le Monde France · Centre-left · Fonds pour l'independance de la presse
  • France 24 France · Centre · Public · France Medias Monde (French state holding)
  • elDiarioAR Argentina · Centre-left · Newsroom-majority owned, membership funded
  • Folha de S.Paulo Brazil · Centre · Grupo Folha (Frias family)
  • Deutsche Welle Germany · Centre · Public · German federal public-law corporation
  • Telex Hungary · Centre · Reader-funded, staff-owned
  • The Indian Express India · Centre · Indian Express Group (Goenka family)
  • Tempo English Indonesia · Centre-left · PT Tempo Inti Media
  • Haaretz Israel · Left · Schocken family and M. DuMont Schauberg
  • Malaysiakini Malaysia · Centre-left · Mkini Dotcom, subscriber-funded
  • Taipei Times Taiwan · Centre-left · Liberty Times Group

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.

Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.

The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing intense criticism from political rivals following a report by the newspaper Haaretz stating that the President of the United Arab Emirates warned him of a major Hamas operation days before the October 7, 2023, attacks. The report, based on an upcoming book by two journalists, claims that UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan spoke with Netanyahu for 45 minutes approximately ten days before the assault. According to the report, Bin Zayed warned that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a large scale operation that could cause significant bloodshed and destabilize the region. The report further alleges that Netanyahu reacted with relative calm and did not pass the warning to the security establishment.

Netanyahu's office has categorically denied the report, calling it an absolute lie and stating that no such warning was given. The UAE Foreign Ministry did not explicitly confirm the call but noted that relevant intelligence continues to be communicated between the two countries when necessary. Other reports, including one from Yedioth Ahronoth, have previously indicated that Egyptian intelligence also warned Israel that something big was going to happen shortly before the attack.

Opposition leaders, including Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, and Yair Golan, have used the report to argue that Netanyahu is unfit to serve and bears personal responsibility for the security failure. They have called for an immediate and thorough state commission of inquiry. This political tension comes ahead of Israeli elections scheduled for October 27. The October 7 attack killed approximately 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken into Gaza. The subsequent Israeli military offensive has resulted in over 73,000 Palestinian deaths according to the Gaza health ministry.

How each side framed it

Left
These outlets framed the report as an exposé of Netanyahu's culpability and a decisive moment for his political future.
Centre-left
These outlets emphasized the political implications for Netanyahu and the broader humanitarian impact of the war in Gaza.
Centre
These outlets focused on the factual claims of the report and the official denials from Netanyahu's office.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.