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

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/08/middleeast/netanyahu-report-warning-uae-hamas-attack-intl

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced a fierce political backlash Tuesday over a report that the president of the UAE had warned him of a major Hamas operation days before the October 7, 2023 attack.

The Prime Minister’s Office dismissed the report as an “absolute lie.” But with Israel’s October elections less than two months away, Netanyahu’s rivals seized on it as the latest evidence of what they say is a growing list of warnings he had ignored.

The four opposition party leaders – Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman and Yair Golan – issued a rare joint statement calling for “an immediate and thorough investigation” into Netanyahu’s “failures and malfunctioning.”

“The Israeli public is entitled to know: What did Netanyahu know, when did he know, why he didn’t update the security establishment, and why he didn’t act to protect Israeli civilians?” the statement said.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the report is “true,” writing on X that Netanyahu’s alleged disregard for the warnings amounts to “criminal negligence.” Bennett’s political ally, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, said he too had publicly warned of an attack before it happened, as had top Israeli security officials as well as Egyptian officials. “If Netanyahu had fulfilled his role, the massacre would have been prevented,” Lapid said in a statement.

Sacrificial lambs have deep religious and cultural roots.

5 hours ago, gargamon said:

“The Israeli public is entitled to know: What did Netanyahu know, when did he know, why he didn’t update the security establishment, and why he didn’t act to protect Israeli civilians?” the statement said.

There has been speculation from the very beginning that Netanyahu knew in advance about the attack and let it happen or even had a hand in it (by moving IDF forces out of the way or on leave on the day it was to happen, thus slowing the response time to get forces into the attack area - the delay is well documented and the IDF leaders criticized for it). Why would he do that? To give him the golden political and military opportunity to kill off the population of Gaza and bulldoze what was left. Which, of course, is what we've all witnessed since then.

32 minutes ago, ronnie50 said:

There has been speculation from the very beginning that Netanyahu knew in advance about the attack and let it happen or even had a hand in it (by moving IDF forces out of the way or on leave on the day it was to happen, thus slowing the response time to get forces into the attack area - the delay is well documented and the IDF leaders criticized for it). Why would he do that? To give him the golden political and military opportunity to kill off the population of Gaza and bulldoze what was left. Which, of course, is what we've all witnessed since then.

The kibuttizim that were attacked in October 2023 were mainly Labour and Mapai supporting communities. Indeed, among the dead were several prominent members of Israeli left-leaning society. So potentially there is a domestic political aspect to this.

In the 2022 elections, the Gaza envelope communities voted roughly 35% Yesh Atid, 20-25% for the old National Unity party, 20-25% Labour, 20-25% Meretz. Not really a Likud area.