Dermer denies Netanyahu, UAE leader spoke before October 7 massacre, war

Former strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer denied on Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed before the October 7 attack, calling reports of such a conversation “fiction.” Speaking at the MEAD Conference in Washington, Dermer, a close confidant of Netanyahu and key figure in Israel-US and Gulf relations, stated, “Did a conversation take place? No.” He asserted that he would have been involved in or briefed on any such call, as expanding the Abraham Accords and strengthening the partnership with the UAE was one of his assigned tasks. Dermer emphasized he was not disputing the content of a conversation, but denying that the call itself ever occurred, noting both Israel and the UAE have rejected the reports.