Gaza, Oct 30: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday took a jab at his intelligence chiefs on the X platform, saying they never warned him Hamas was planning its wide-scale attack on Oct. 7, but later retracted his comments and issued an apology.
The remarks caused a political uproar and a rift within the war cabinet of Netanyahu, who has drawn public ire for not taking responsibility over intelligence and operational failures relating to Hamas’ rampage through southern Israel.
While top officials – from the heads of the military and the Shin Bet domestic spy service to his finance minister – have all acknowledged their failures, Netanyahu has not.
He has only said that there would be time to ask tough questions, including of himself, after the war.
Israel’s military spokesperson, asked about Netanyahu’s comments during a daily briefing with reporters, declined to respond, saying: “We are now at war, focused on the war.”
Israeli officials have said events leading up to and including the handling of the Hamas attack itself would be investigated, but that the current focus was on the conflict.
Netanyahu’s now-deleted post had said: “At no time and no stage was a warning given to Prime Minister Netanyahu regarding war intentions of Hamas. On the contrary, all security officials, including the head of army intelligence and the head of the Shin Bet, estimated that Hamas was deterred and interested in an arrangement.”