Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday instructed his lawyers to file a libel lawsuit against Haaretz newspaper, journalist Shlomi Eldar, and others following a report claiming he received a warning from the UAE president about a possible attack before October 7.
In a statement, Netanyahu’s office called the report “a false libel that never was and never happened.” According to the statement, no phone call took place between Netanyahu and the UAE president from early September through October 7.
הנדון: שקרים תוצרת “הארץ”
ראש הממשלה הנחה את עורכי דינו להגיש תביעת דיבה נגד עיתון השמאל ״הארץ״, שלומי אלדר וגורמים נוספים שהעלילו עלילה שקרית על ראש הממשלה שלא הייתה ולא נבראה.
בניגוד לנטען, מתחילת חודש ספטמבר ועד ה-7 באוקטובר לא התקיימה שום שיחה בין ראש הממשלה לנשיא איחוד…
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) September 9, 2026
Netanyahu’s office said it, along with the National Security Council and the military secretariat, thoroughly checked the prime minister’s call logs from the relevant period—and found no record of any such conversation.
The office explained that policy calls between the prime minister and the UAE president are conducted through an Emirati representative who comes to the Prime Minister’s Office with a special encrypted device, and that the calls are documented. According to the office, a check of entry logs to the compound also showed no Emirati representative entered the office during the period in question.
The statement also addressed Eldar’s comments in an interview with Channel 12, claiming he himself described the call as one conducted through that same representative and encrypted device. Netanyahu’s office emphasized there is no way to enter the compound without documentation and registration by security personnel.
Netanyahu also rejected the claim that Egypt warned him of a possible attack, saying it was already debunked at the start of the war. According to him, the reports are part of a “malicious libel with clear political timing” designed to divert discussion from the security establishment’s conduct in the hours before the attack.
The prime minister repeated his claim that former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi were exposed to warning signs hours before Hamas’s attack began but did not update him in time. According to him, had they instructed the IDF, Shin Bet, and standby squads to prepare in advance, the massacre could have been prevented.