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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Tuesday that Egypt’s then-intelligence chief Abbas Kamel visited Israel shortly before Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, while denying that he met or spoke with him and saying he does not know which Israeli official did.
Speaking to Israel’s Channel 14, Netanyahu said Kamel spent 59 minutes in Israel and called for authorities to determine whom he met.
“I want to know who he met with,” Netanyahu said, invoking what he described as the “deep state.”
Netanyahu said he was attending a memorial ceremony for fallen Israeli soldiers at the time of Kamel’s visit.
“He didn’t meet with me, he didn’t speak to me,” Netanyahu said.
He also called for available footage and records from the visit to be examined, saying: “There are cameras, there is documentation, I want to know the truth.”
Haaretz reported that Netanyahu’s comments marked an acknowledgment that Kamel had visited Israel before the Hamas attack after the prime minister had previously dismissed reports that the Egyptian intelligence chief warned him of an impending assault as “fake news.”
The Atlantic reported in late September that Kamel traveled to Israel on Sept. 26, 2023, 11 days before the Hamas attack, to warn Israeli officials that the group was preparing a major operation.
The magazine cited Israeli, Egyptian, Arab, U.S. and European officials briefed on the visit.
According to the report, Kamel urged Israel to make economic concessions to Hamas to help prevent an escalation and warned that the window to avert a confrontation was narrowing.
A former Israeli official quoted by The Atlantic said Kamel warned that “Gaza is going to blow up in your faces.”
The report said the warning did not provide a specific date or detailed operational information.
Flight records cited by The Atlantic showed that an aircraft associated with Egyptian intelligence landed in an isolated area of Ben Gurion Airport shortly before 10 a.m. on Sept. 26 and departed for Cairo 67 minutes later.
The Atlantic said it remained unclear which Israeli official met Kamel.
A former Israeli official told the magazine that the unusual nature of the intelligence chief’s brief trip itself demonstrated the urgency of his message, saying: “The messenger was the message.”
The Wall Street Journal reported in September, citing officials in an Arab government, that Kamel called Netanyahu days before the Oct. 7 attack after two earlier Egyptian warnings had gone unheeded.
According to the Journal, Egypt first warned Israel in June 2023 that conditions in Gaza were volatile and urged Israel to resume negotiations with Hamas.
Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Oct. 9, 2023, that Kamel had spoken with Netanyahu in the days before the attack and warned of “something unusual, a terrifying operation” being prepared by Hamas.
An Egyptian intelligence official told Yedioth Ahronoth that Kamel was “amazed by the indifference” with which the warning was received.
According to that report, Netanyahu told Kamel: “In Gaza, we are in the picture, we are in control. Our problem is with the West Bank, and that’s where we are also diverting forces.”
Netanyahu continues to deny that he spoke with Kamel or personally received such a warning.
Ynet had also reported two days after the attack, following an Associated Press report about an Egyptian warning, that Kamel had conveyed a message to Netanyahu’s office about “something unusual, a massive operation” being prepared in Gaza. The Prime Minister’s Office denied receiving such a warning.
Netanyahu told Channel 14 that the unanswered question was who met the Egyptian intelligence chief during the visit.
“I’m the prime minister of Israel, and Egypt’s intelligence minister was here. He spent 59 minutes on the ground. I want to know who he met with,” Netanyahu said.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana told Kan public radio Wednesday that Kamel had arrived 11 days before the attack and apparently met a senior security official.
“He met someone here. The question is whom,” Ohana said, adding that he believed Kamel met one of the heads of Israel’s security establishment and also called for an investigation.
Netanyahu also argued during the Channel 14 interview that intelligence chiefs do not normally meet heads of government.
However, Ynet reported that footage released by the Prime Minister’s Office in 2021 showed Netanyahu hosting Kamel at the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem as part of a delegation of senior Egyptian officials.
Separately, The New York Times reported in September that United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had warned Netanyahu about the possibility of a major Hamas attack.
According to the report, Netanyahu did not relay that warning to his security chiefs.
The reports have renewed scrutiny over what Israeli officials knew in the period before the Oct. 7 attack and who received warnings from regional partners.
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