In September ’23, UAE President bin Zayed called Netanyahu to deliver a harsh warning….Yahya Sinwar was planning a major operation against Israel…. Netanyahu did nothing. Revealed: Netanyahu Received an Explicit Warning Days Before Oct. 7, Haaretz

It strains credulity to believe Israel had no advance knowledge of a complex attack which would require extensive open-air training in one of the most heavily surveilled strips of land on our planet. Especially when you look at all the pre-existing military agendas Israel was able to push forward in the aftermath. Caitlin Johnstone, X

You have the distinct possibility that Netanyahu deliberately stood down his security forces (on October 7th) because he knew this attack was coming and he wanted to allow a certain level of casualties to use that as the excuse to launch his massive ethnic cleansing genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip.” Scott Horton, editorial director antiwar.com

On Tuesday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published a “bombshell” report claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had received an “explicit warning” from President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed (UAE) that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar “was planning a major operation” that could take place at any time. According to the article, the Israeli PM ignored the warning and failed to pass along the information to the heads of the Shin Bet, the Mossad and the IDF. As a result, Israel’s chief security officers remained unaware of imminent threats that could have “changed our entire assessment picture.”

The authors of the article are extremely persuasive in making their case that Netanyahu was, at the very least, remiss in fulfilling his duties. Also, the PM has not helped himself by stubbornly opposing the forming of an independent state commission of inquiry to investigate the failures which led to the October 7 attack. Even so, the article itself is sadly lacking in any hard evidence of culpability. For example, there is neither any identification of witnesses who could verify their primary claims nor any solid evidence to prove their allegations. Instead, readers are expected to trust the analysis of a liberal publication that has conveniently uncovered damning information about a political candidate just weeks before elections. Can you see why people might be suspicious?

Don’t get me wrong, in my opinion there is no doubt that Netanyahu knew that Hamas planned to launch a major attack on October 7.

But I am not so gullible to believe that Haaretz’s “blockbuster” article is anything more than a “hit piece” aimed at sabotaging Bibi’s chances at reelection.

This is politics, not journalism. All the same, one has to admire the highwire act the authors perform by suggesting that Netanyahu exercised poor judgement (by not informing his security chiefs) rather than claiming he was criminally negligent. There’s an important distinction here, and the authors clearly tried to navigate that minefield without making any potentially libelous claims of criminality. (Even so, Netanyahu has instructed his lawyers to pursue a libel suit against Haaretz and the reporter.)

.

.

Under Israeli law, criminal negligence requires “proof of a serious, culpable departure from a clear legal duty of care, foreseeability of specific harm, and a sufficiently direct causal link—often with elements that support prosecution.” Poor judgment, on the other hand, implies that Bibi was guilty of a flawed risk assessment suggesting that he simply misread the gravity of the warning. The Haaretz article seems to support the latter conclusion which proves our point that the authors of the piece wanted to show that Netanyahu was “weak on security” in order to undermine his prospects for reelection but did not want him to face criminal charges for negligence.

But let’s be honest; this is precisely the type of article that one would expect in the run-up to an election. The goal is simply to scuttle Bibi’s chances of staying in power, not to put him behind bars. Surprisingly –in that regard– the article has not ‘done the trick’. Recent surveys (that have been conducted since the article was published) show zero movement among the electorate. Check out this short post from Shaiel Ben-Ephraim

If anyone thought the revelations about Netanyahu being warned about October 7 by the UAE would shift the polls, they haven’t. Netanyahu is still set to bloc a new government and lead to a hung Knesset which would leave him in charge until another election is held. Shaiel Ben-Ephraim

.

.

Interesting, eh? Not what you would expect after a “political earthquake” like the Haaretz piece. What this shows us is not that Israeli voters are stupid, but that a capable tyrant does not require a clear majority to control the levers of state power. He simply needs to nurture the parliamentary gridlock that makes him the default leader. Netanyahu has mastered that task.

One of the glaring shortcomings of the article is that is grossly mischaracterizes Hamas’ strategic objectives by suggesting that Yahya Sinwar was singularly focused on stalled prisoner negotiations which just isn’t true.

The real goal of the October 7 attack was to disrupt Saudi normalization (The Abraham Accords) which were steadily moving ahead, and which were designed to sidestep earlier commitments by Arab leaders to reject normalization with Israel unless the issue of Palestinian self-determination (and statehood) was resolved.When it looked like the Saudis were prepared to ignore those earlier commitments and make a deal with Israel, Hamas had no choice but to take extreme measures to preserve their future existence as a people. In short, the October 7 attacks were a last-gasp effort to gain international recognition and derail normalization. The Palestinian cause was being “disappeared” and Sinwar had to do something about it. The Hamas leader actually presented his objectives in a speech which is still available on X. Here’s what he said:

“Within a limited period of months—which I estimate will not exceed one year—we will force the occupation to face two options: Either we force it to implement international law, respect international resolutions, withdraw from the West Bank and Jerusalem, dismantle the settlements, release the prisoners, and ensure the return of refugees, achieving the establishment of a Palestinian state on the lands occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem; or we place this occupation in a state of contradiction and collision with the entire international order, isolate it in an extreme and powerful manner, and end its integration in the region and the entire world, addressing the state of collapse that has occurred on all fronts of resistance over the past years.” SuppressedNews @SuppressedNws

If you read Sinwar’s words carefully, you’ll not only understand what he was trying to do; you’ll also see that he has largely succeeded. Palestinian self-determination and statehood cannot be achieved by Palestinians alone. They need the assistance of the international community. Sinwar is acknowledging that. He is also presenting the remedy, which is increasing the public’s awareness of the ethno-supremacist ideology called Zionism. He’s predicting that Israel’s destruction of Gaza will bring the world closer to understanding what Zionism really is, and that that awareness will prompt people of conscience to act in a way that deepens Israel’s isolation.

There’s a reason why you’ll never read Sinwar’s words in the mainstream media. It’s because it doesn’t preserve the image of a Hamas militant as a bloodthirsty terrorist, but the leader of an oppressed people fighting to save what’s left of their country from foreign settlers. In other words, it doesn’t fit with the official narrative.

In any event, it doesn’t really matter whether Netanyahu was “tipped off” by MBZ or not. We already know from numerous other sources, that Bibi knew a lot more than he is letting-on. Check it out:

October 2022: Israeli intelligence receives a copy of Hamas’ battle plan- complete with precise details on how they planned to overwhelm the Iron Dome, use drones to take out the security cameras and automated machine guns on the border wall, and then use paragliders and motorcycles to cross into Israel. Israeli officials named the plan “Jericho Wall” and circulated it widely within the IDF while simultaneously dismissing it as “too ambitious” for Hamas. Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago, New York Times

July 2023: Analysts in Israel’s Signal Intelligence Unit 8200 filed repeated warning notices that Hamas was conducting intense, daylong exercise drills that appeared identical to the outline for attack in Jericho Wall. These reports were all acknowledged and then “dismissed.” Israel dismissed intel about Hamas attack plan over a year ago – report, I24

September 2023: Guard units stationed on the border submit dozens of reports regarding seeing Hamas training on paragliders; their reports are completely ignored. They were Israel’s eyes on the border, but their warnings about Hamas went unheard,NBC News

“It felt like something out of the ordinary was about to happen,” said Roni Lifshitz, an observation soldier who was part of Unit 414…. Lifshitz said the warning signs were there, but those at the top didn’t take them seriously. “We were completely ignored…IDF soldiers say repeated warnings of Hamas activity prior to Oct. 7 attacks were ignored, ABC News

Israeli intelligence leak details extent of warnings over Hamas attac k; Officer who reviewed intelligence considered risk of big attack, The Guardian

And this– October 3, 2023: an intelligence officer within Unit 8200 sends out a slew of emails to senior intelligence officials warning about an imminent attack based on her analysis of the intelligence gathered at the border. She specifically states, “it is time to warn the people.”

October 4, 2023: Egyptian intelligence alerts Israel that “something big is coming.” This included a direct warning from Cairo’s intelligence minister to Benjamin Netanyahu

So, while there’s no hard evidence that a general “stand down” order was given to IDF troops operating on the border, “there are some specific testimonies of soldiers who were told to hold back or delay in particular situations that morning.” Grok

What these articles show is that there were a myriad of signs that an attack was imminent, but Netanyahu brushed them aside and went about his business. What readers may not know, however, is that Bibi resigned his post as Finance Minister under PM Ariel Sharon on August 7, 2005, because he opposed the Gaza Disengagement Plan, which was the unilateral withdrawal of Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip (to ease Israel’s security demands and to appease world opinion.) When Netanyahu submitted his resignation letter during a cabinet meeting attended by Sharon, he argued that Gaza would become a “base of Islamic terror,” that would have to be addressed sometime in the future. Bibi’s statement positioned him to the right of Sharon making him the darling of the extremists who set their sights on the (eventual) annexation of the Strip. Thus, October 7 became the pretext for Netanyahu to implement his vision for Gaza which dated back more than two decades. And, as we know now, that vision includes reducing the entire Strip to rubble, so the remaining population can be transferred to other (foreign) locations.

Bottom line: Bibi resigned from the Sharon administration because he strongly believed that Gaza was an integral part of the Jewish state and that the Palestinians would have to be removed so settlement could proceed without opposition. 20 years later, October 7th became the justification for Netanyahu to make his dream a reality. Thus, the genocide in Gaza is not a reaction to a terrorist attack, but part of a long-range plan for ethnic cleansing.

*

Click the share button below to email/forward this article. Follow us on Instagram and X and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost Global Research articles with proper attribution.

This article was originally published on The Unz Review.

Michael Whitney is a renowned geopolitical and social analyst based in Washington State. He initiated his career as an independent citizen-journalist in 2002 with a commitment to honest journalism, social justice and World peace.

He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).  

All images in this article are from the author/TUR

Global Research is a reader-funded media. We do not accept any funding from corporations or governments. Help us stay afloat. Click the image below to make a one-time or recurring donation.