Netanyahu acknowledges the visit of Egypt's intelligence chief to Aviv before the October 7 attack

Tel Aviv - Ofoq News - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted, yesterday evening, Tuesday, for the first time, that the head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel, arrived in Israel a week and a half before the October 7 attack.

In an interview with Channel 14, Netanyahu said that Kamel “did not meet me, because I was at a memorial service for those killed in the Israeli army.” According to media reports, Kamel then warned of a “major attack planned by Hamas.”

Two days after the Hamas attack, the Associated Press revealed an Egyptian warning that Kamel had conveyed a message to Netanyahu’s office, warning of “something unusual, a terrifying operation” about to occur from the Gaza side. The Prime Minister's Office denied these allegations.

Netanyahu said yesterday: "He did not talk to me. Since when does the head of the intelligence service talk to a head of state? This has never happened to me. There is no such thing. He will always come accompanied by someone else."

But just two years earlier, Netanyahu hosted Kamel at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem. In a video clip published by the then Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu and Kamel appeared shaking hands and talking, while Kamel was at the head of a high-level Egyptian delegation that arrived in Israel.

Netanyahu claimed that he did not know who Kamel met in Israel during that secret visit on September 26, 2023: “There was an Egyptian intelligence minister here. He spent 59 minutes on the ground. I am communicating with the security authorities and law enforcement authorities - I want to know who he met with. Someone he met is trying to pin this charge on me.”

The American magazine "The Atlantic" revealed last month that Kamel arrived in Israel for a short visit on September 26, "warning that Hamas was preparing for a major attack, and called on Israel to make economic concessions to prevent escalation."

According to the magazine's investigation, a chartered Cessna plane, linked to Egyptian intelligence services, landed at Ben Gurion Airport at that time and stayed in Israel for only 67 minutes before taking off back to Cairo.

A former Israeli official, speaking to the magazine, claimed that the mere arrival of the Egyptian intelligence chief for a short and unusual visit was enough to illustrate the urgency of the situation.

He added: "The messenger was the message itself." About two hours after the Egyptian plane landed, Netanyahu participated in a celebration marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Yom Kippur War in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu said at the time: “As a basic lesson learned from that war, we do not underestimate any threat.”