Netanyahu’s party seeks investigation into journalists who reported UAE warning before Oct 7 attack

Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has accused an Israeli newspaper and Democrats leader Yair Golan of allowing “blatant foreign interference in Israel’s elections” following a report about an alleged warning from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before the October 7 Hamas attack in 2023.

The party also called for a criminal investigation into Golan, Haaretz (the accused Israeli newspaper) and the journalists behind the report, without providing evidence for its allegations.

The Israeli newspaper report claimed that UAE President Mohamed Bin Zayed warned Netanyahu about the possibility of an attack before October 7 and that Netanyahu did not act on the information.

In a statement posted on X by Netanyahu, Likud alleged that the report had political motives and accused Golan of involvement in its publication. The statement did not provide evidence to support the claim.

Likud also referred to former senior Palestinian official Muhammad Dahlan, who it claimed had been involved in the reported conversation between Bin Zayed and Netanyahu.

The party alleged that Dahlan wanted to remove Netanyahu’s right-wing government because he sought control of the Gaza Strip.

“To do so, he needs a weak left-wing government of Eisenkot, Yair Golan, Lieberman and the Arab parties,” Likud claimed. “Such a government would withdraw from Gaza and hand it over to his control.”

The party also accused journalist Shlomi Eldar, who reported the alleged conversation, of receiving payment from a left-wing nonprofit linked to Golan’s Democrats party. Likud claimed the payment was intended to promote what it called “his blood libel,” without citing evidence for the allegation.

Likud further raised the possibility that Golan and former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Ronen Bar’s recent reported visit to the UAE could have a connection to the Haaretz report.

“Likud demands the opening of a criminal investigation against Shlomi Eldar, Ruth Yuval, the newspaper Haaretz, Yair Golan, and the Democrats party,” Netanyahu wrote in the post, “due to suspicion of attempting to disrupt the elections with foreign entities.”