Fact check this thread.
The thread is short and new. It opened with the claim that Netanyahu was warned about October 7 and “did nothing,” then immediately piled on older, stronger allegations: IDF stand-down orders, Mossad knowing the exact timing, Israel/“Zionists” funding Hamas so the attack could happen, most Jewish victims being killed by the IDF, and Netanyahu personally funding October 7 and heading to prison for it.
Here is what the public record actually shows.
1. “Bibi was warned and did nothing”
Partially supported, heavily contested.
A new Haaretz report (drawn from the book
Hostages: 843 Days of Abandonment by Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, published Sept. 8, 2026) says UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed called Netanyahu about 10 days before October 7, warned that Yahya Sinwar was planning a major operation that could destabilize the region, and that Netanyahu reacted calmly, said Israel was prepared, and did not brief Shin Bet, Mossad, or the IDF chief.
Netanyahu’s office says no such call occurred between early September and October 7, that logs were checked, and that he is suing Haaretz for defamation. Haaretz stands by the reporting. An Emirati source reportedly confirmed the conversation to
The Times of Israel; Naftali Bennett called the report true.
This is
new, disputed reporting, not established fact. It is being used in the run-up to Israel’s October 2026 election.
Separately, there is a long paper trail of earlier warnings that were
not a specific “Hamas will invade on Simchat Torah” alert:
- IDF Military Intelligence sent Netanyahu four letters in spring/summer 2023 about how enemies viewed Israel’s internal divisions. His office says those letters did not warn of a Hamas attack from Gaza and contained the opposite assessment (Hamas deterred).
- Israel had Hamas’s detailed “Jericho Wall” attack blueprint more than a year earlier and dismissed it as aspirational.
- Night-of-October-6 signs (activated Israeli SIM cards in Gaza, unusual activity) were discussed among security officials and judged not to indicate an imminent large-scale invasion.
The consensus among Israeli investigations is a catastrophic
misjudgment that Hamas was deterred and focused on governance, plus holiday understaffing and slow command response—not a documented “do nothing” order from Netanyahu.
2. “Front-line IDF told to stand down shortly before”
Unsupported as a high-level order.
Early conspiracy claims of a Netanyahu “stand-down” circulated in October 2023 and were treated as unsubstantiated.
What
is documented:
- Very few combat troops on the Gaza envelope that morning (holiday + standing assessment that Hamas would not launch a large raid).
- Delayed, chaotic reinforcement; some bases and kibbutzim fought for hours with almost no IDF help.
- Specific local decisions (e.g., a patrol told not to approach the fence that morning because of ATGM risk).
- No evidence of a political or general-staff order to stand down so the attack could succeed.
3. “Mossad knew not only that it would happen but when”
False as stated.
Mossad later acknowledged it was surprised on the morning of October 7. A Mossad assessment two weeks earlier concluded Hamas leadership in Gaza was not seeking a military confrontation. Mossad’s role in the Gaza arena was also more limited than Shin Bet/IDF Military Intelligence.
Israel had pieces of the puzzle (the year-old plan, training exercises, night-before SIM activity). It did not have a high-confidence, timed warning that was then ignored at the top.
4. “Zionists funded Hamas” / “Bibi funded October 7”
Distorted.
Israel (under Netanyahu and earlier governments)
facilitated Qatari cash into Gaza—tens of millions of dollars a month at peak—officially for salaries, fuel, and humanitarian needs, as part of a “quiet for money” / divide-and-rule policy that treated Hamas as a counterweight to the Palestinian Authority. Critics (including Avigdor Lieberman and later Shin Bet commentary) say this helped Hamas divert its own resources to military buildup. That policy is real and is now widely criticized inside Israel.
It is
not the same as Israel creating Hamas, directly paying for the October 7 operation, or Netanyahu bankrolling the massacre. Qatar, Iran, and Hamas’s own taxation/smuggling were the primary funding streams. Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial (bribery, fraud, breach of trust in media/telecom cases) is separate and predates October 7; there is no public case that he is going to prison
for funding the attack.
5. “The majority of Jews who died were killed by the IDF”
False.
Official Israeli tallies put total deaths on October 7 at roughly 1,200 (civilians + security personnel + foreigners). The large majority were killed by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.
The Hannibal Directive (use force to stop captives being taken into Gaza, even at risk to the captives)
was used at some military sites and against vehicles heading toward the fence. A UN commission found
at least 14 Israelis were likely killed by Israeli fire in such incidents; the Be’eri house tank strike killed most of the hostages inside. Friendly fire and chaotic crossfire also occurred. Those cases are serious and documented. They are a small fraction of the death toll, not the majority.
Bottom line: The thread title tracks a brand-new, disputed Haaretz/book claim that Netanyahu received a personal warning from the UAE president and did not act on it. That claim is politically explosive and not yet independently proven. The rest of the thread recycles older conspiracy versions that go well beyond the evidence: no documented stand-down order, Mossad did not have the timing, Israel facilitated Qatari money but did not fund the massacre, and the IDF did not kill most of the victims.
Fact check this thread: https://justplainpolitics.com/threads/turns-out-bibi-was-warned-about-octobe
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