A Secret Trip to the UAE, a Warning He Denies, and a Near-Hijacking — Three Weeks Before Netanyahu’s Election

October 1, 2026 · By BreeBottomz · Breaking News, Politics

Israel votes on October 27, 2026. And the ghost hanging over Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign is the same one that has haunted him for three years: October 7. In the span of a single month, three stories collided. A report that he was warned before the Hamas attack. A secret flight to Abu Dhabi that sources say was about making that report go away. And a hijacking attempt on a plane full of Israelis. Here’s what’s confirmed, what’s denied, and what’s still sitting in the dark.

The Warning He Says Never Happened

On September 8, Haaretz reported that UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed phoned Netanyahu about ten days before October 7, 2023, warning that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a major operation. According to the report, an adviser on the call said the Emirati leader “told Netanyahu that Israel should be ready.” Reports say Netanyahu downplayed it and didn’t pass it on to his defense and security chiefs.

Then it snowballed. On September 25, The New York Times, citing five former senior Israeli officials, reported the UAE warning “never reached the leaders of Israel’s security establishment,” and that minutes of an October 1, 2023 meeting show Netanyahu saying the goal was to keep Gaza calm, partly because he believed a Saudi normalization deal was close. The Atlantic reported Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel flew to Ben Gurion Airport on September 26, 2023 with his own warning. The Wall Street Journal reported a third alert by phone.

Netanyahu’s response: the Haaretz story is “an absolute lie,” he didn’t speak to the UAE president during that period, and he’ll sue. On Egypt, he posted that “in the months leading up to October 7, Prime Minister Netanyahu did not meet or speak with Abbas Kamel.” Meanwhile, former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar says he personally warned the prime minister of an impending disaster and was ignored, and says he’ll sue Netanyahu for defamation.

Notice what the UAE did not say. Its Foreign Ministry declined to comment on leaders’ conversations and said “relevant intelligence” has been shared “when necessary.” Australia’s ABC called it a “non-denial denial.” When your ally won’t back your story, that tells you something.

The Secret Trip

On Sunday, September 28, Netanyahu flew by private plane to Abu Dhabi for about four hours, according to Israel’s Channel 12, and met bin Zayed for roughly an hour. Sources told the Associated Press the purpose was to ask the Emirati leader to publicly deny he’d ever warned Netanyahu. Channel 12 reported Netanyahu’s office had repeatedly sought the meeting for exactly that reason, and that the UAE sees it as internal Israeli politics it wants no part of, especially before an election.

Netanyahu’s office called that account “fake news.” The UAE’s state news agency said the two discussed “bilateral relations.” Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported the trip coincided with planes from Libya, Morocco, Qatar, and a Saudi-origin Emirati jet landing in Abu Dhabi, suggesting a regional huddle on Iran.

Here’s the part that should make you sit up. The Shin Bet filed a complaint with the military censor against Channel 12 for reporting the trip while the PM was still flying home. The PMO said a Mossad assessment called the leak “a serious security threat.” The delegation included Sara Netanyahu, the Mossad director, the National Security Council head, and the PM’s military secretary. No reason was given for his wife’s presence.

So the story became the leak, not the purpose of the trip. Classic.

The Near-Hijacking

Two days later, on September 30, the co-pilot of FlyDubai flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv allegedly attacked the captain and tried to crash the plane. Israel scrambled fighter jets and, according to two Israeli sources cited by CBS, was prepared to shoot the plane down. It diverted and landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. We break that story down in full here.

Is it connected to the UAE trip? There is no evidence that it is. We want to be clear about that. But timing matters in politics, and a foiled attack on Israelis three weeks before an election lets a wartime leader change the subject from “what did you know before October 7?” to “look who’s keeping you safe.” Netanyahu publicly praised the wounded Indian captain as a hero within hours.

The Bottomz Up Take

Strip away the noise and you’re left with one question Israelis deserve an answer to: was the prime minister warned, and did he act? Netanyahu has rejected calls for a government inquiry. Multiple governments’ intelligence services are now, through leaks, telling the same basic story. A leader with nothing to hide welcomes an inquiry. A leader who flies to Abu Dhabi in secret to ask a foreign head of state to deny a phone call is behaving like a man managing a problem.

We’ll be watching October 27.

— Bree Bottomz

Sources

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