Netanyahu faces backlash over report he was warned of Hamas attack days before October 7 - CNN

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced sharp political backlash on Tuesday over a report that UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed warned him of a major Hamas operation roughly 10 days before the October 7, 2023 attack.
The report, published in Haaretz and based on an upcoming book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruti Yuval, described a 45-minute call in which Bin Zayed cautioned that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a move that could cause bloodshed and destabilize the region.
According to the report, Sinwar had conveyed a warning of an upcoming "earthquake" through a Palestinian mediator in mid-September 2023, and Netanyahu reportedly reacted "relatively calmly," assuring Bin Zayed that Israel was prepared.
The Prime Minister's Office dismissed the account as an "absolute lie," saying Netanyahu never spoke with the UAE president, while an Israeli source said his office pushed the UAE to deny the story.
The UAE Foreign Ministry declined to comment on leader conversations but did not deny the call, stating that relevant intelligence "has been and continues to be communicated between the relevant entities."
With Israel's elections less than two months away, opposition leaders Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman and Yair Golan issued a joint statement demanding an investigation, while Bennett called the report "true" and alleged "criminal negligence," and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the massacre could have been prevented.