WHETHER or not the bizarre flydubai caper last week was a false-flag operation, Benjamin Netanyahu certainly seemed well-prepared to milk the drama for every possible drop of propaganda. Barely credible tales of derring-do were widely broadcast soon after the incident.
Various discrepancies in the official narrative and supplementary visual components have attracted widespread scepticism. But just days after warning of unspecified attacks in the run-up to the Oct 27 elections, the Israeli PM desperately needed a distraction. Seemingly irrefutable evidence has been piling up that he was personally warned about a possibly unprecedented Hamas action just days before the Oct 7 Gaza breakout three years ago. The information came from two of Israel’s leading allies in the Arab world: the UAE and Egypt.
The external warnings followed efforts by Hamas itself, during indirect discussions between the two sides about easing the Gaza blockade and releasing Palestinian prisoners, to inform the Israeli authorities about impending violence if the talks failed. Sufian Abu Zaida, reportedly a senior Fatah official picked by Israel as a mediator, who was trusted by both Hamas and Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet, relayed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s threat of an imminent ‘earthquake’ to his Israeli interlocutors, as well as to Palestinian Authority officials. Shin Bet’s head then briefed Netanyahu, but urgent talks involving military and intelligence officials produced no action.
Abu Zaida then briefed a contact in the UAE presidency, which led to the Gulf nation’s intelligence outfit exchanging notes with Shin Bet. After no visible effects ensued, the Emirati president, Mohammed bin Zayed, was persuaded to directly contact Netanyahu — and is reported to have been surprised by the Israeli PM’s insouciance. Meanwhile, following similar warnings from Cairo, Egypt’s intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, flew to Israel to convey his concerns, advising that the economic stranglehold over Gaza be eased to avert a catastrophe. His efforts, too, went unheeded.
Untrue tales of beheaded babies and rape were immediately coughed up.
The Israeli media’s take on all this evidence focuses mainly on Netanyahu’s failure to share the information he had received with the defence establishment. His reticence is clearly questionable, but it is at best a side story. Given that many of the warnings were conveyed via Shin Bet, it is ridiculous to pretend that the military/intelligence organs were in the dark.
In fact, in the immediate aftermath of Al Aqsa Flood, the Hamas-led operation on Oct 7, 2023, it was already impossible to believe that, given their intrusive surveillance of Gaza, the Israelis were unaware of what was brewing. It soon emerged that reports of unusual activity from the depleted IDF contingents posted on Gaza’s periphery — mostly young soldiers with little experience — were similarly ignored. More experienced troops had been redeployed to the occupied West Bank, to aid Zionist settlers in their acts of extreme violence against Palestinians.
Even after he was informed of the Oct 7 ‘surprise’, Netanyahu took his time to react, and it was hours before the IDF sprang into action in the kibbutzim that were attacked. We might never know how many of the Israeli fatalities that day can be accounted for by the IDF’s belated killing spree. But untrue tales of beheaded babies and systematic rape were immediately coughed up to attract international sympathy. The hasbara was rebuffed shortly afterwards, but continues to resurface. The Israeli lie that the Hamas operation was masterminded by Iran never had a leg to stand on, so it gradually made way for other false claims but continues to be resurrected whenever required.
In the liberal media across Israel and the West, Oct 7 tends to be seen as a consequence of both the viciousness of Hamas and its allies and the complacency of the Israeli security state, its conviction that Hamas wouldn’t dare try anything worse than lobbing a handful of homemade missiles every now and then. This is nonsense. The far more likely explanation is that the Zionist chieftains actually wanted Hamas to do its worst, since that would give them an excuse to accelerate the Palestinian genocide. That goal was unhesitatingly accomplished.
The acclaimed Israeli documentary NAZA, a title that appropriately invokes both the Nazis and Gaza, reportedly highlights the efficiency of mass murder and exposes the banality of evil in the AI era. Consisting of interviews with anonymous Israeli cogs in a genocidal machine, it might help to alert Zionists in Israel and far beyond to the reality of exactly what they have been supporting. However, three years after Israel embarked on the final phase of the Palestinian genocide with Western assistance (epitomised by the absurd Board of Peace), there are no signs of a reversal of fortunes.
Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2026
