Likud says Netanyahu has sued media outlets over reports of Egyptian, UAE warnings ahead of Oct. 7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sued several Israeli news outlets and journalists over recent reports that he received warnings from UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel ahead of the October 7 massacre, his Likud party announced Tuesday.

A Likud statement said Netanyahu is suing, for the sum of NIS 2.6 million ($850,000), among others, outlets Haaretz, Yedioth Ahronoth, and Channel 12, along with reporters Shlomi Eldar, Uri Misgav, Nadav Eyal, Barak Ravid, and Attila Somfalvi over the claims.

According to Likud, the reports are “a complete lie.”

“It is not by accident that these lies are being published now, on the eve of an election, by political rivals and hostile foreign elements,” the party said.

A copy of the lawsuit shared by Likud includes Netanyahu’s repeated denial that he either met with or spoke to the Emirati president or Egyptian intelligence chief in the month before the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, “which completely pulls the rug out from under these false reports.”

“This is a total invention meant to fatally harm the security of the country and the prime minister, while blatantly violating all journalist ethics with the full knowledge that it is not true,” the suit charges.

The Likud announcement came amid growing controversy over the reports that Netanyahu was warned by Arab leaders of an impending attack in the days and weeks leading up to October 7, and a day after the premier himself was threatened with a lawsuit for accusing former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar of knowing about the threat of an attack that night but choosing not to inform him.

Netanyahu has regularly blamed Israeli security officials for the failures of October 7. He has asserted that if he had been woken in the early hours of that day — when security chiefs discussed concerning signs coming from Gaza that they have said they did not regard as presaging an imminent attack — he would have ordered swift action and prevented the massacre.

He has also refused to establish a state commission of inquiry – Israel’s highest investigative authority – into the disaster, arguing that an independent panel appointed by the Supreme Court would be biased against his government, which has sought to curtail the powers of the judiciary. He has argued instead for a panel appointed by lawmakers, with its mandate and scope set by politicians.