BS BULLETIN:

• A bombshell Haaretz investigation says UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed personally warned Benjamin Netanyahu roughly 10 days before Oct. 7 that Hamas was preparing a major operation.
• Egypt reportedly delivered another warning.
• Netanyahu’s office calls the allegation an “absolute lie,” while former PM Naftali Bennett says he knows it is true.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was personally warned that Hamas was preparing a major attack roughly 10 days before the Oct. 7 massacre — and failed to pass that warning to Israel’s top security officials, according to explosive new reporting from Haaretz.

Netanyahu’s office categorically denies it.

The report, based partly on research for an upcoming book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, says United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan spoke directly with Netanyahu for approximately 45 minutes in late September 2023.

According to three senior foreign sources cited in the investigation, bin Zayed warned Netanyahu that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation that could produce bloodshed and destabilize the region.

Netanyahu reportedly responded calmly, saying Israel was prepared for any scenario and suggesting that Hamas activity was more likely to occur in the West Bank.

But the warning allegedly went no further.

Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and former IDF chief Herzi Halevi both told Haaretz they were not informed about the UAE president’s call.

The investigation says the underlying intelligence was even more ominous.

Sinwar had reportedly sent word through a Palestinian intermediary that he was preparing a “zilzal” — Arabic for “earthquake” — and subsequently described what was coming as the “mother of all surprises” and a “terrifying operation.”

That information reportedly reached Shin Bet on Sept. 15.

Two days later, according to the report, Bar warned Netanyahu during a security assessment that Israel was “on a collision course” and recommended either offensive action or stronger defenses around Gaza and the West Bank.

And there was reportedly another foreign warning.

Haaretz says Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel separately contacted Netanyahu and warned him that Hamas was preparing “something unusual, a terrifying operation.”

Netanyahu reportedly responded that Israel had the situation in Gaza under control.

The prime minister then allegedly failed to mention either foreign warning during an Oct. 1 security discussion focused on Hamas and Gaza.

Netanyahu’s office is emphatically rejecting the story. “An absolute lie!” the Prime Minister’s Office said. “Prime Minister Netanyahu did not speak with the president of the United Arab Emirates during the period in question and did not receive any warning from him.”

The UAE has not publicly confirmed the alleged conversation.

But former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett came forward Tuesday and backed the central allegation. “I know for a fact the report is true,” Bennett told Israeli radio, saying both the UAE and Egypt had warned Netanyahu that Hamas was planning a major operation. Bennett did not publicly disclose how he knew this.

The new allegations are especially consequential because Netanyahu has recently argued that security officials failed to wake him during the crucial hours immediately preceding the attack.

The picture before Oct. 7 remains complicated.

Documents Netanyahu’s office itself released earlier this year show that Israeli defense and intelligence officials badly misread Hamas. A Sept. 27 security assessment — also about 10 days before the massacre — characterized Hamas as seeking economic concessions rather than escalation, while then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant recommended pursuing a longer-term arrangement.

But the new report raises a different and potentially devastating question:

If Netanyahu personally received explicit warnings from foreign leaders that Sinwar was preparing a major operation, why weren’t Israel’s security chiefs told?

Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering approximately 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Nearly three years later, Israel is heading into an election with the most fundamental question about that catastrophe still unresolved:

Who knew what — and when?

DBS WIRE SOURCES:

• Mediaite — Netanyahu Was Personally Warned Hamas Was Planning ‘Terrifying Operation’ 10 Days Before Oct. 7 Attack: Report
• The Jerusalem Post — UAE warned Netanyahu of major Hamas attack days before October 7 massacre, Haaretz reports
• The Times of Israel — Days before Oct. 7, UAE leader warned Netanyahu Hamas was planning war, but PM did nothing with the info — report
• The Washington Post/AP — UAE warned Netanyahu of major Hamas operation days before Oct. 7 attack, news report says
• The Jerusalem Post — Bennett confirms Netanyahu was warned by UAE of Sinwar threat before Oct. 7