Contradicting PM and reports, Egypt’s spy chief said not to have been in Israel days before Oct. 7

The private Egyptian jet that landed at Ben Gurion Airport for an hour on September 26, 2023, was not carrying Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, but rather two Egyptian businessmen, Hebrew media outlets reported Wednesday, citing senior intelligence sources.

The Atlantic had reported that the plane carried Kamel, who came to Israel days before the eventual October 7 onslaught to warn that the Hamas terror group was planning a major attack. The report was among a series of allegations that Netanyahu received early warnings of a major attack from Gaza in the lead-up to October 7 but did not act on them, though Netanyahu has flatly denied the reports and blamed the security establishment for the intelligence failures surrounding the attack.

Moreover, on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Kamel was in Israel on that date, but sad that he didn’t know whom he met with, and that he had received no warning about a Hamas attack.

“He didn’t meet with me, he didn’t speak with me,” Netanyahu told the right-wing Channel 14. “When does an intelligence chief meet with a head of state?” (Netanyahu has met with Kamel, having hosted the Egyptian spymaster in 2021 at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem.)

But senior officials contradicted both Netanyahu’s claim and the Atlantic report, telling the Kan public broadcaster and Channel 12 that Kamel was not even on board the Egyptian plane that landed in Israel on September 26, instead saying that it carried two Egyptian businessmen.

The plane, owned by Egyptian charter company Smart Aviation, received routine ground services in Israel by QAS after landing at 9:50 a.m., and returned without passengers at 10:57 a.m., Kan reported, citing flight records.

The names of the businessmen, who landed at the private Fattal Terminal at the airport, are known to Israeli authorities, Kan added.

The purpose of the Egyptian businessmen’s visit was not detailed in either report.

The earlier reports that said Kamel had visited Israel to warn its leaders of an impending Hamas attack just before October 7 came just weeks after a bombshell report in the Haaretz newspaper that said United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed had called Netanyahu personally in late September 2023 to warn him of an impending Hamas threat, and that the two had spoken for some 45 minutes.

An Emirati source has confirmed to The Times of Israel that the warning call from bin Zayed took place.

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied that he received any warnings — from the UAE or from Egypt — about an impending threat from Hamas. He has regularly blamed Israeli security officials for the failure of October 7, and asserted that if he had been woken in the early hours of that day, when security chiefs discussed concerning signs coming from Gaza, he would have ordered swift action and prevented the massacre.

Netanyahu, who is seeking to retain the premiership after the October 27 election, has refused to establish a state commission of inquiry – Israel’s highest investigative authority – into the October 7 disaster, arguing that an independent panel appointed by the Supreme Court would be biased against the government. He has argued instead for a panel appointed by lawmakers, with its mandate and scope set by politicians. However, the government hasn’t formed any sort of inquiry in the three years since the Hamas invasion.