Netanyahu says some Arab states behind ‘blood libel’ against him

In a post on the prime minister's X, Netanyahu claimed some Arab states were behind the 'false and vile campaign' aimed at replacing his government with 'left-wing Arab parties.'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied reports that he was warned prior about the Hamas October 7 attacks by Egypt and the UAE, saying Arab states were behind the “false blood libels” against him on Monday.

Egypt and the UAE both reportedly sent multiple warnings to Netanyahu and other Israeli officials that Hamas was considering a major attack.

In a post on Netanyahu’s X/Twitter, the prime minister said he “did not meet or speak with Abbas Kamel, who was then head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service” in the months before October 7.

Netanyahu accused “left-wing media” of running a “vile and false campaign” designed to pin the failures and “crimes” of Israel’s intelligence community entirely on him.

The statement claimed that Ronen Bar, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief at the time, knew of a threat but chose not to alert the prime minister or the appropriate forces.

Arab countries aiming to establish a 'Palestinian state'

Netanyahu alleged that the reports that he had received intelligence from Arab leaders before October 7 were "false" and spread by hostile states.

“Behind these false blood libels stand foreign and hostile states and actors, including Arab countries, with the aim of toppling Netanyahu's right-wing government and replacing it with an Eisenkot-Yair Golan-Liberman left-wing-Arab parties government that would withdraw from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Judea and Samaria, and establish a Palestinian state,” the post read.

Netanyahu’s statement finished by saying the upcoming election was a choice between his own right-wing government or Palestine.

A report from the Atlantic on Saturday showed that Kamel met with Netanyahu 11 days before October 7 to warn him of the attack. Additional coverage from the Wall Street Journal found that Kamel conveyed an additional warning in a phone call with the prime minister just days before Hamas’s attack.

UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan also warned of a potential attack in a phone call with Netanyahu in September 2023, according to Haaretz. However, the warning never reached Israel’s security establishment, according to five former Israeli officials.

Sofian Abu Zaida, a former Fatah official, claimed he is the figure known as “Coal Eyes,” whom former Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar used to send a warning of Hamas’s plans shortly before October 7.

Haaretz reported that Abu Zaida was used by Sinwar to warn Israel of a “huge surprise for them” if they did not meet his demands.

Abu Zaida delivered Sinwar’s message directly to MBZ, who reportedly passed the warning of the anticipated attack to Netanyahu, according to Haaretz.