Two and a half weeks after a Haaretz investigation, The New York Times has also reported that United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in late September 2023 that Hamas was considering launching a major attack, according to two sources who spoke to the newspaper.
According to the investigation published Friday, Netanyahu did not mention the warning at all during a meeting on the situation in the Gaza Strip that he convened with Israel's security chiefs several days later, on Oct. 1.
One of the sources said he had spoken with bin Zayed himself, while the other said he had been briefed by someone who took part in the conversation between the two leaders. According to the sources, bin Zayed told Netanyahu that information he had received indicated Hamas was planning an attack.
One source said the information did not specify whether the attack would involve rocket fire at Israel or a ground invasion. The Times said it was unclear what the original source of the intelligence relayed by bin Zayed had been, or whether the two leaders discussed any subjects other than the warning.
Five former senior Israeli officials said the warning never reached the heads of Israel's security establishment and that the conversation is not mentioned in any of the internal investigations by the Israel Defense Forces and intelligence agencies in which they were involved.
According to the Haaretz investigation, the information bin Zayed passed to Netanyahu was based on threats conveyed by then-Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar through an intermediary known as "Coal Eyes." Last week, former senior Palestinian Authority official Sufian Abu Zaida revealed in a video posted to his Facebook account that he was that intermediary.
According to Haaretz, Sinwar's message was also passed to the Shin Bet security agency on Sept. 15, and then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar briefed Netanyahu on it. At a meeting held in response, Shin Bet officials assessed that Sinwar might be planning to get his hands on Elizabeth Tsurkov, the Israeli-Russian researcher who was being held in Iraq at the time. The meeting ended without any decisions being made.
On Thursday, Abu Zaida provided new details about the message in a report aired by the Egyptian Al-Ghad television channel. He said that during a Sept. 14, 2023, meeting with Sinwar, the Hamas leader asked him to relay a message to the Israelis: "Before the end of September, we will put cards on the table that will cause an earthquake in the negotiations, and they should prepare themselves to empty the prisons."
According to the minutes of the Oct. 1 meeting, which the New York Times reportedly obtained, Netanyahu said the goal should be to preserve calm in the Gaza Strip. He opposed proposals by several officials to consider strikes against senior Hamas figures in Gaza who were directing terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria.
Netanyahu also said that any Israeli action in Gaza could undermine the prospects of establishing diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, an agreement he believed at the time was close.
According to the New York Times, bin Zayed himself referred to the conversation several months later during a discussion with then-CIA Director William Burns. A person familiar with the matter said bin Zayed told Burns that he had spoken with Netanyahu about an approaching threat of escalation by Hamas in Judea and Samaria or the Gaza Strip.
Following the Haaretz investigation, Netanyahu denied receiving any warning from bin Zayed. "A total lie! Prime Minister Netanyahu did not speak with the president of the United Arab Emirates during the period in question and received no warning from him," the Prime Minister's Office said. In a separate statement, the office said that "if there was any relevant information, it was passed through intelligence channels between the two countries."
The Prime Minister's Office and the United Arab Emirates Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the New York Times report.
Last week, in response to a query from the Emirati newspaper The National, an official UAE source said, "The UAE discusses security matters with other countries through the relevant entities, and does not discuss such details at the level of national leaders."
