Netanyahu faces backlash ahead of elections as Europe hits Israel hard
Following a report by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing nationwide protests.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing sharp political opposition in the country following a report claiming that United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) warned him about a major Hamas operation nearly 10 days before the attack on October 7, 2023.
The Prime Minister's Office has described the report by Israeli newspaper HAARETZ as “sheer lies.” However,
with less than two months to go before elections in October, Netanyahu's opponents have cited this as yet another example of the growing list of warnings that the Prime Minister ignored.
CNN reported that four prominent opposition leaders— Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman, and Yair Golan issued a joint statement demanding an immediate and thorough investigation into Netanyahu's “failures and negligence.”
The statement said,
the Israeli public has the right to know what Netanyahu knew, when he knew it, why he did not inform security agencies, and why he did not take action to protect citizens?
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called the report “correct,” writing on social media platform X that,
Netanyahu's ignoring of warnings is “criminal negligence.”
Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid stated that,
he too had publicly warned of potential threats before the attack. According to him, Israel's top security officials and Egyptian officials had also issued such warnings.
Lapid said,
if Netanyahu had fulfilled his responsibilities, this massacre could have been prevented.
The report published in the Israeli newspaper HAARETZ is based on information from the new book Kidnapped: 843 Days of Abandonment by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval.
According to the report, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) called Netanyahu about 10 days before October 7. In a conversation lasting about 45 minutes, he warned that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is planning a major operation against Israel, which could lead to heavy bloodshed and destabilize the entire region.
The report also claims that in mid-September 2023, Yahya Sinwar sent a message to the UAE and Israel through a Palestinian intermediary warning of an impending “earthquake.”
HAARETZ reported that Netanyahu responded relatively calmly to this information and assured Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) that Israel is prepared to handle any situation.
The UAE Foreign Ministry, in a statement released on Tuesday evening, said it does not comment on media reports or speculation related to conversations between the two heads of state. However, the ministry did not explicitly deny the phone call. The statement said, “Whenever necessary, all relevant intelligence information has been shared between the relevant entities and will continue to be shared.”
An Israeli source familiar with the matter claimed that Netanyahu's office attempted to refute the report by HAARETZ to the UAE, but the UAE only agreed to issue a statement related to sharing intelligence information.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office dismissed the report outright, stating,
“During the relevant period, Netanyahu did not speak to the President of the UAE, nor did he receive any warning from him.”
The journalist who prepared the report, Shlomi Eldar, has challenged this denial. He told CNN,
The report is accurate. I have worked on this for about a year and a half. I have documents and records that show that the President of the UAE warned Netanyahu about a week and a half before October 7 that Yahya Sinwar is planning a major attack on Israel.”
This report comes at a time when Netanyahu's political rivals are trying to make accountability for the October 7 attack a major election issue. The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, resulted in the deaths of over 1,200 people, and more than 250 individuals were taken hostage and brought to Gaza. It is considered the deadliest attack in Israel's history.
Following the attack, the then Defence Minister, Chief of Staff, military intelligence department, MOSSAD, and Shin Bet directors have either resigned, been removed from their positions, or had their terms expire. Netanyahu has remained in office longer than almost all of the top security officials from that time.
In electoral surveys, Netanyahu's main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, has stated that,
The report indicates that Netanyahu led Israel “with eyes closed” towards the failure of October 7. He reiterated his promise to establish a government inquiry commission upon taking office. Even three years after the attack, Netanyahu has not accepted the demand for an independent inquiry commission from the families of the victims and survivors. Instead, Netanyahu and his associates have continued to hold security chiefs accountable. Despite receiving intelligence signals related to Hamas's potential actions the night before the attack, security officials did not wake the Prime Minister.
Last month, Netanyahu's wife, Sara Netanyahu, alleged that,
The leader of the left-wing Democrats Party and retired Major General Yair Golan might have had prior knowledge of the attack. She questioned how Golan was “prepared in advance” to go to southern Israel early in the morning while others, including the Prime Minister, had no idea.
Golan called it a “disgusting conspiracy theory,” demanded an apology, and warned of a defamation lawsuit.
HAARETZ reported that Yair Golan wrote on X,
The narrative that “we were not awakened” is over. Netanyahu knew and was warned.
He described it as “not a normal mistake in decision-making, but a deliberate criminal act.” A few hours later, the Democrats Party put up a large billboard over a major highway in Tel Aviv. It read-
File on the murder of 1,200 people: Cause of death by negligence.
In a recent development, 12 countries, including the UK, Canada, and France, announced on Tuesday that they would impose trade restrictions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. This decision comes amid increasing violence from Israeli people and the government against Palestinians. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden are also preparing to impose restrictions on trade with these settlements. The foreign ministers of these countries provided this information in a joint statement.
In recent weeks, attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages in the West Bank have increased. These incidents have been widely condemned by the international community.
Ireland and Spain have already taken steps against trade with Israeli settlements. France has also been calling for a similar decision at the European Union level for several weeks. However, due to opposition from some member countries, consensus has not yet been reached. The European Union is Israel's largest trading partner.
In the joint statement, the foreign ministers of the 12 countries said that,
The activities of the Israeli government in the West Bank are ‘undermining the prospects for a two-state solution.’ The two-state solution envisions Israel and Palestine living peacefully as two separate countries.
Addressing Parliament, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced that the UK would impose import restrictions on goods coming from illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Ed Miliband said,
I don’t think the people of Britain want us to support the occupation by selling products from these Israeli-occupied settlements in our shops and supermarkets.