Netanyahu Announces Libel Suit Against Haaretz Over UAE Pre-Oct. 7 Warning Report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Wednesday, September 9, 2026 that he has instructed his legal team to file a defamation lawsuit against Haaretz and reporter Shlomi Eldar over the previous day's report that United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned him roughly 10 days before October 7, 2023 that Hamas was preparing a major operation. Netanyahu's office called the report a 'malicious fabrication' and said reviews by the Prime Minister's Office, National Security Council and military secretariat found no record of any conversation between Netanyahu and Bin Zayed 'from the beginning of September through October 7, 2023.' Haaretz said it stood by its report, noting three senior foreign-government representatives were said to have been informed about the call at the time. The UAE Foreign Ministry reiterated that it 'does not comment on media stories or speculation regarding conversations between government leaders.' The dispute intensified as the year's third October 7 anniversary approaches: Haaretz's elections desk wrote Wednesday that the more Netanyahu 'tries to run from October 7, the more his culpability becomes a key election issue,' with the October 27 vote increasingly framed around the unresolved question of what he knew beforehand and why no state commission of inquiry has been established nearly three years on.