Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, September 27, 2026, and met with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to multiple Israeli media reports. The visit was first reported by Israeli Channel 12 and later corroborated by a diplomatic source to The Jerusalem Post. A senior Israeli official also confirmed the meeting to Reuters.
Netanyahu departed from Ben-Gurion Airport shortly after 12:00 p.m. on a private executive jet and landed in Abu Dhabi at 3:10 p.m. He spent approximately four hours in the UAE before his plane took off for the return flight to Israel at 7:10 p.m.. The Prime Minister’s Office declined to provide details about the meetings.
The visit took place against the backdrop of a major controversy in Israel over a report published by the newspaper Haaretz on September 8, 2026. The Haaretz investigation alleged that UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed warned Netanyahu in late September 2023 that Hamas was planning a major attack against Israel.
According to the Haaretz report, the warning came during a 45-minute phone call approximately a week and a half before the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack. The report stated that bin Zayed told Netanyahu that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning an operation that would cause significant bloodshed and destabilize the region. The report cited dozens of sources, documents, and internal correspondence for its investigation.
The Haaretz report further alleged that Netanyahu did not pass the warning on to Israel’s security chiefs. Five former senior Israeli officials said the warning was not passed on to Israel’s security chiefs and that the conversation is not mentioned in any internal investigations by the Israel Defense Forces or Israeli intelligence agencies . The New York Times later reported that it had confirmed the substance of the warning through two sources.
Netanyahu’s office has strongly denied the Haaretz report. In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said: “No warning was given to the prime minister from the United Arab Emirates before 7 October”. The office called the report part of a “sinister plot with clear political timing, as part of the left’s election campaign”.
Netanyahu instructed his lawyers to begin defamation proceedings against Haaretz, the journalists who wrote the report, and “other elements”. Haaretz has stood by its reporting and rejected the defamation claim, saying its “sole purpose is to silence journalistic criticism”.
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not confirmed or denied the specific claim about the pre-October 7 warning. In a statement, the ministry said the UAE Government “does not comment on media stories or speculation regarding conversations between government leaders”. The ministry added that the UAE’s engagement since October 7 was consistently directed toward de-escalation, regional stability, and preventing violence, and that all relevant intelligence has been and continues to be communicated between the relevant entities.
The controversy has become a dominant issue in Israel’s election campaign. Israelis are scheduled to vote on October 27, 2026. The election is widely considered a referendum on Netanyahu’s leadership.
Recent polls show Netanyahu’s Likud party trailing behind the opposition. A Channel 13 poll published on September 23 showed Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party leading Likud by 22 seats to 18. The same poll found that 48% of respondents preferred Eisenkot as prime minister, compared with 36% for Netanyahu. A Channel 12 poll released the same week showed the opposition bloc securing 54 Knesset seats compared with 50 for Netanyahu’s coalition.
Opposition leaders have seized on the Haaretz report. Gadi Eisenkot wrote on X: “Netanyahu received dozens of warnings for October 7 and ignored them all. He is unfit”
According to Israeli state-owned Kan TV News, Iran was the main focus of the talks between Netanyahu and bin Zayed . Israeli sources told Channel 13 that the meeting primarily dealt with Iran and general tensions in the Middle East . The two leaders have reportedly discussed defensive options against Iranian attacks in previous meetings .
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