Israel's Netanyahu to sue newspaper over claim UAE warned him of 7 October attack

Netanyahu's office said the report was part of a "sinister plot" Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told lawyers to begin defamation proceedings against an Israeli newspaper over reports that the leader of the United Arab Emirates warned him that Hamas was planning an operation just days before the attacks. According to book extracts published by Haaretz, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had a phone call with Netanyahu that September. The report said Netanyahu was warned that the then-Hamas chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was planning a major operation. Netanyahu's office said "no warning was given to the prime minister from the United Arab Emirates before 7 October", calling the report part of a "sinister plot". Haaretz, which has historically been a vocal critic of the prime minister, has stood 's defamation claim, saying its "sole purpose is to silence journalistic criticism". The report - and Netanyahu's angry denials, accusing Haaretz of lies - comes as the general election campaign in Israel starts to heat up. The polls on 27 October are widely considered a referendum on Netanyahu's leadership. On , thousands of Hamas-led gunmen breached the Gaza border fence and attacked nearby Israeli communities, military bases and a large music festival. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken back to Gaza as hostages. Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which at least 73,670 people have been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable . Ever since 7 October, accusations have been laid against Netanyahu that he did not act quickly enough after the attack began. He has resisted an independent public inquiry into what happened and this latest report will only fuel critics' suspicions. The report, published on Tuesday, cited three "foreign senior sources" and a Palestinian adviser to Sheikh Mohammed as saying that, in the final days of September 2023, a representative from the UAE embassy went to the Israeli prime minister's office with a special phone to ensure the conversation would remain confidential. It also said Netanyahu failed to brief the heads of Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency and Mossad intelligence agency, as well as the Israeli army's chief of staff about his conversation with the UAE president. The report was published on the same day that the UK announced sanctions on illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. The decision angered the Israeli government, which announced several countermeasures, including ordering the closure of the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem.