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Posted on 09/09/2026 4:37:34 PM PDT by Words Matter
AR: ....The UAE refused to comment on the report but did not deny it and underscored that the Emirati and Israeli governments maintained open and direct communication since establishing relations more than 5 Years ago. For his part, Netanyahu wrote on social media that no such call took place between September and October 7th and called the story a malicious fabrication with a clear political timing.
For more on this story and how the actions of Netanyahu before the October 7th attack are impacting the current election campaign in Israel, we turn to David Makovsky, distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
David, welcome back to the Newshour. Delighted to be with you.
Thanks for being with us.
The big headline in this story is that there was a call between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Mohammed bin Zayed saying there's going to be an attack and reportedly Netanyahu dismissed that you know well, you are very familiar with the sort of back channel negotiations and communications that were happening during this time. So what do you make of this report and what do you think was going on around this time?
DM: Look, it's clear, delighted to be with you, Ali. I think it's, you know, the whole media focus is on was there. Phone call or there wasn't a phone call between Mohammed bin Zayed, the head of the UAE, and Prime Minister Netanyahu. I tend, from what I've been hearing, I did not find support for a call itself, but I do find some indications that there were some back channel communications between Yahya Sinwar through an intermediary, a Palestinian intermediary that made its way back to Israel, which was limited at least to the issue of prisoner exchanges. I actually think there was a broader thing going on. I think that was limited. I don't know if that was, you know, a distraction from the broader macro that was going on at that time, but I do think those broader developments in October, September, October 2023 are worthy of note, right?
AR: And what you're talking about here in terms of those broader dynamics you're saying that that could have extended beyond any conversation about a possible truce and really had more to do with some of the broader context of what was happening in Israel at the time.
Remind us of that broader two critical things, mega stories that were going on at that time in 2023.
DM: One was the judicial overhaul of this government of Israel which was very controversial about changing the role of the courts and perhaps diluting Israel's liberal character, which prompted a backlash among Israeli pilots saying that they were not going to fly in reserve duty. In return, senior security officials were saying after October 7th, on the record, I happened to hear it before October 7th, say, David: The Arabs think Israel is weak because the pilots won't fly in reserve duty, and they are plotting. They are meeting. Something big is about to happen, and Aaron Haliva, the head of military intelligence, has gone public and said, I warned the government in writing 3 times saying this is dangerous. They're drawing the wrong conclusions. Now, he didn't connect the dots, saying therefore on October 7th on the Gaza fence this would this would happen, this horrible massacre, the worst since the Holocaust, but they were, their hair was on fire, was one mega event.
The other mega event was Saudi normalization. There was an interview of MBS Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia say every day we're getting closer to Saudi normalization, and I think for Yei Sinwar and I think President Biden has said he believes this. President Trump has said he believes this may be one of the few things they agree on, but they said they both believe that Yis Sinwar did October 7th to derail Saudi normalization with Israel because if the biggest and most powerful Saudi Arab state made peace with Israel. Hamas would be a footnote, and all of this is happening as we prepare for an election in Israel on October 20th, opposition parties are using this report as a call for renewed calls for an independent state commission of inquiry, what would that look like? And do you, do you, how does this change the election, by the way, you've had 70% of Israelis, not just the opposition parties saying that after every fiasco, debacle, whatever word you want to used in Israeli history. Israel has gone through a cleansing, inward, I would say brutal self-reflection, a self reckoning. What went wrong. And I always talk to Arab leaders who say, hey, that's part of Israel's strength. They go through that self reckoning exercise to investigate what happened here.
And the prime minister though is convinced that because the rules of the game that the commission of inquiry led by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who is liberal and therefore he thinks he won't have fair shake and he's resisted these calls and for the opposition, which by the way includes two right wing parties, by the way, not just centrist or center left parties, their view is this is central. The first day of the government after the elections, there has to be an announcement of a commission of inquiry into what actually happened on October 7th and hopefully many of these details will become unearthed, and Netanyahu doesn't want this commission to happen.
AR: Do you think that affects ultimately his election chances here in 20 seconds?
DM: All I can say is 2/3 of Israeli Jews, which are 80% of the country, have just said in a poll this week, and a credible poll, that October 7th is going to be a big factor in how they vote.
AR: So David Makovsky, thank you so much for your insights. Thank you very much.
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If you think about it, a major obstacle was set up after the left pushed against legal reforms.
This story is all part of the push to tilt the upcoming election just the boycott of Israeli goods. They hate Bibi.
(Abraham Accords)
Which may just happen
It will not turn out as expected
They hate Bibi
Indeed they do
PBS News. I think l’ll wait for a credible source.
Yes. The liberal protests 2022/2023 have much to do with weakening the army
I think al Jazeera news might be a tiny bit less radical and untrustworthy yhan PBS lol
Point wasn’t about liberal PBS narrative but about David Makovsky interviewed.
PBS is a hard-leftist propaganda site that will lie about anything and everything if it will hurt the USA or hurt MAGA or hurt Trump, therefore i don’t waste my time reading or listening to their lies ...
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