Israeli newspaper rejects Netanyahu’s demands, vows to reveal truth in court after lawsuit threat

Israeli left-wing newspaper Haaretz on Thursday rejected three demands by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid being sued and vowed to reveal the truth in court.

The dispute concerns a report published on Tuesday by the newspaper that said Netanyahu received a warning from United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a call before October 7, 2023, that Hamas was planning to launch an attack.

Netanyahu denied having any contact with the UAE president or receiving any warning from him. The UAE Foreign Ministry said it did not comment on reports of talks between government leaders.

Haaretz said in a statement that it recently sent a response to Netanyahu’s lawyers rejecting his threat to sue the newspaper and journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruti Yuval.

The newspaper said the report concerned a warning from the UAE president to Netanyahu 10 days before the October 7 attack about a major operation that late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning against Israel.

The Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, attacked military bases and settlements near the Gaza Strip, killing and capturing Israelis.

Israeli military, intelligence and political officials described the attack as an unprecedented political, security and military failure in Israel’s history.

Read: Netanyahu warned by UAE president before October 7 events, failed to brief security chiefs: Haaretz

While several security, military and political officials acknowledged responsibility for the failure, Netanyahu had rejected responsibility and instead blamed the military.

Haaretz said the report was “the product of an in-depth, well-sourced journalistic investigation into a matter of the utmost public interest”.

The newspaper told Netanyahu’s lawyer that “in the absence of full accountability to the public on behalf of your client, the press is fulfilling its role and revealing information to the public, piece by piece.”

It rejected Netanyahu’s demands to remove the report, issue an apology, and pay one million shekels ($331,000) as part of a settlement, coupled with a threat to file a lawsuit seeking more than 2.5 million shekels ($827,000).

The newspaper stressed that the demands and threat to sue reveal the true nature of Netanyahu’s approach, “the sole purpose of which is to silence journalistic criticism”.

Haaretz said it received a warning letter on Wednesday from Netanyahu in response to its publication of the report.

Also on Wednesday, Netanyahu instructed his team to file a defamation lawsuit against Haaretz, the journalists and “other elements” he did not identify.

Netanyahu ignored the “UAE warning” about the possibility of a Hamas attack and did not inform the military or the Shin Bet security agency, according to the newspaper.

While declining to comment on the report by Haaretz, the UAE Foreign Ministry said that Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv maintained “open and direct channels of communication” since establishing relations more than five years ago, through which they exchange intelligence when necessary.

Since October 8, 2023, Israel has carried out a genocidal war in Gaza that has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured over 174,000, most of them women and children, according to Palestinian authorities.

Netanyahu has been wanted by the International Criminal Court since 2024 for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza.