New Reports of Pre-October 7 Warnings Deepen Netanyahu's Election-Eve Troubles

Fresh allegations that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was cautioned about an impending Hamas attack before October 7, 2023, have reignited a politically explosive debate in Israel just weeks before voters head to the polls. According to a Wall Street Journal report published on Sunday, Egypt's intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, telephoned Netanyahu only days before the assault to warn him of the looming danger. The call reportedly built on earlier communications in September 2023, when Kamel is said to have traveled to Israel in person to alert security officials that Hamas was preparing an attack.

The Egyptian account is the latest in a series of disclosures that have shadowed Netanyahu throughout the campaign for the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 27. Earlier this month, Israeli and US media outlets reported that United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had warned Netanyahu during the week before the attack that Yahya Sinwar, Hamas's then-leader in Gaza, was planning an assault. Together, the reports paint a picture of multiple regional leaders urgently seeking to alert Israel's leadership as the threat crystallized.

Netanyahu has consistently and forcefully denied receiving any such warning, and he has responded to the claims with legal action. The Emirati foreign ministry has declined to comment on what it described as media reports and speculation about conversations between government leaders, while neither Kamel nor the Egyptian government has issued any public statement on the matter. The absence of official confirmation has done little to quiet the controversy, which continues to dominate Israeli political discourse.

Rather than accepting responsibility for any intelligence failure, Netanyahu has sought to redirect blame toward Ronen Bar, the former head of Israel's internal security service, Shin Bet. Bar, long viewed as a political adversary of the prime minister, announced on Monday that he would sue Netanyahu for defamation over the accusations. The legal confrontation between the two men adds another volatile element to an election campaign already defined by questions of accountability.

The October 7 attacks killed 1,139 people in Israel and triggered a devastating military response. More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war on the enclave, a campaign that has drawn widespread international condemnation and accusations of genocide. More than three years later, the events of that day and the security failures that preceded them remain central to Israeli public life and, according to polling, continue to rank among the issues voters consider most important.

Security analyst Ahron Bregman, a senior teaching fellow at King's College London, offered an explanation for why the warnings may have gone unheeded. He noted that Kamel flew to Israel on September 26 and that similar messages arrived from the Emirati president. In Bregman's assessment, the warnings were filtered through what Israeli security circles call the "conception"—the Hebrew term ha-conceptzia, referring to the entrenched assumptions that shape national security decision-making. The prevailing belief, he said, was that Hamas had been deterred and merely wanted to ease pressure on Gaza, and that this view was held not only by Netanyahu but across much of the Israeli security establishment.

Netanyahu's principal rivals have seized on the reports. Naftali Bennett, a former prime minister who now leads the Beyachad (Together) alliance, declared that if the allegations are substantiated, Netanyahu "cannot continue to serve in his position for another minute." Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff whose Yashar party holds a razor-thin polling lead over Netanyahu's Likud, was equally blunt, stating that the prime minister received dozens of warnings before October 7 and ignored them all, concluding that he is unfit for office.

Despite the intensity of the allegations, the reports do not appear to have significantly shifted the polls. Nevertheless, the Wall Street Journal's latest revelations are likely to unsettle members of Netanyahu's campaign team, who have already devoted considerable resources to shaping the narrative around the attack and its aftermath. With the vote approaching, even marginal movements among undecided voters could prove decisive in a race that polls suggest is extraordinarily tight.

The controversy also intersects with Netanyahu's broader international standing. He remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, and his diplomatic activity—including a recent visit to Abu Dhabi confirmed by the UAE—has been closely watched. The reports that Emirati and Egyptian leaders tried to warn him before the attack complicate his efforts to present himself as a leader whose regional relationships protect Israeli security.

For many Israelis, the unresolved questions surrounding October 7 cut to the heart of public trust in government. The continued stream of media coverage has kept the trauma of the attack alive in national debate, ensuring that accountability remains a defining issue of the campaign. Whether the newest allegations alter the trajectory of the race remains uncertain, but they guarantee that the warnings Netanyahu allegedly received will be a central theme until polling day.