Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has filed a defamation lawsuit against Haaretz (הָאָרֶץ), one of the country’s leading newspapers, after it claimed that he had received and ignored an advance warning about the 7th October 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks. Haaretz reported that United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had informed Netanyahu of an impending Hamas operation in a telephone call at the end of September 2023, and that Netanyahu told none of his security or military officials about the conversation.
The severely damaging allegation appeared in the newspaper’s Hebrew edition on 8th September, and in its English edition today, in a report written by Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval adapted from their forthcoming book חטופים — 843 ימים של הפקרה (‘hostages — 843 days of abandonment’). The article included a categorical denial by Netanyahu (“This is an absolute lie”), though it was based on multiple sources and its central allegation has not been refuted by the UAE.
There have been previous claims that Netanyahu ignored intelligence reports about potential unspecified Hamas operations, though the allegation in Haaretz is more damning, as it accuses him of disregarding and concealing a specific warning less than two weeks before the attack took place. Netanyahu is also on trial for corruption, with his next court appearance scheduled for April 2027.
There have been previous claims that Netanyahu ignored intelligence reports about potential unspecified Hamas operations, though the allegation in Haaretz is more damning, as it accuses him of disregarding and concealing a specific warning less than two weeks before the attack took place. Netanyahu is also on trial for corruption, with his next court appearance scheduled for April 2027.
