Netanyahu meets UAE president amid October 7 warning row
What's the story
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, a senior Israeli official to Reuters. However, neither Netanyahu's office nor the UAE foreign ministry has commented on the meeting yet. The meeting comes amid controversy over a report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which claimed Sheikh Mohammed had warned Netanyahu about a major Hamas operation against Israel 10 days before the October 7 attack.
Diplomatic channels
UAE has not publicly commented on the Haaretz report
However, the warning was allegedly not communicated to Israeli intelligence agencies or military.
Netanyahu has denied this claim and threatened legal action against Haaretz.
The UAE hasn't publicly commented on the report but maintained that Abu Dhabi and Israel have "open and direct lines of communication" since normalizing relations under the Abraham Accords in 2020.
A source familiar with the UAE's diplomatic protocol told Reuters that security matters are usually discussed through official channels, not informal conversations between national leaders.
Diplomatic history
Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohammed met earlier this year too
This isn't the first time Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohammed have met in private.
In May, Netanyahu's office had announced he "secretly visited" the UAE, but the UAE denied that Sheikh Mohammed had met Netanyahu.
However, a source later said that the two leaders met in Al-Ain on March 26.
The UAE has since strengthened its ties with both the US and Israel after coming under attack during the Iran war.
Sources
Egypt warned Netanyahu thrice
After the Haaretz report, the WSJ reported that Egypt also gave Netanyahu repeated intelligence warnings in the lead-up to October 7, including as late as 48 hours before the attack.
The first warning came in June 2023, when Egypt said that the situation in Gaza was explosive and urged Israel to reopen negotiations with Hamas.
By September, the warnings had become more direct, with Egypt saying the situation was going to "blow up in everyone's faces."
Israel
Netanyahu has denied ever speaking to Kamel
The last warning came in early October, 48 hours before the date 7 onslaught, when then-intelligence director Abbas Kamel called Netanyahu's office directly.
Netanyahu has denied ever speaking to Kamel before the attack.
Speaking to Army Radio, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant confirmed that the country received a warning through a channel maintained by Shin Bet about a Hamas offensive before the attack.
He called Netanyahu's ignoring those warnings a "fundamental failure in the overall assessment of the situation."