PM: ‘I said things that should not have been said and give full support to leaders of security forces.’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deleted the post he published overnight on X (formerly Twitter) against the heads of the Shin Bet and Military Intelligence and apologized for his words after receiving harsh criticism from his cabinet colleague Minister Benny Gantz and opposition leader Yair Lapid.
“I was wrong. The things I said following the press conference should not have been said and I apologize for that. I give full support to all the heads of the security forces. I strengthen the Chief of Staff and the IDF commanders and soldiers who are at the front and fighting for our home. Together we will be victorious,” wrote Netanyahu.
In the now-deleted post, Netanyahu stated that “contrary to the false claims: under no circumstances and at no stage was Prime Minister Netanyahu warned of intentions to wage war on the part of Hamas.”
“On the contrary, all the security forces, including the head of the IDF and the head of the Shin Bet, estimated that Hamas was deterred and wanted the improve the situation in Gaza. This is the assessment that was presented time and time again to the prime minister and the cabinet by all the security forces and the intelligence community, including up to the outbreak of the war,” the statement added.
National Unity Party chairman Benny Gantz said in response to Netanyahu’s original post: “This morning in particular, I want to give my backing to and strengthen all the security forces and IDF soldiers – including the Chief of Staff, the head of the IDF and the head of the Shin Bet,” Gantz wrote. “When we are at war, our leaders need to show responsibility, decide to do the right things and strengthen the forces in such a way that they can realize what we demand of them. Any other action or statement harms the people’s ability to endure and its strength.”
He also wrote: “The prime minister must retract his statement last night and stop speaking about the issue.”
“I said yesterday that a heavy burden rests on the shoulders of the heads of the security arms for what was and will be. This morning, I would like to emphasize – – we are all with you and behind you, the entire Israeli society carries the burden with you. Do not look up or back – continue your mission. I love you, appreciate you, and support you.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid also responded and wrote: “Netanyahu crossed a red line tonight. While IDF soldiers and commanders are fighting valiantly against Hamas and Hezbollah, he engages in attempts to blame them instead of backing them up. Attempts to evade responsibility and blame the security system weaken the IDF while it fights Israel’s enemies. Netanyahu must apologize for his statements.”
They may be “Cabinet Colleagues” as the reporter writes, but otherwise deadly political enemies who have spent the last 4-5 months in conducting internal street warfare in an attempt to unseat the PMs government elected by the People..
Those actions were little short of traitorous insurrection, and the ensuing prolonged chaos lent itself to diverting attention from the Arab terrorist Enemy Hamas.
And the damned pacifier Netanyahu, took them into the War Cabinet. They can contribute nothing except failure, the way they failed in the previous Govt . even though they brought the Arab terrorist political combine into Govt. with them.
Netanyahu had an outdated desire to show the world that Israel both Left and Right are really one People and united against the Arab terrorists.
He doesn’t need them in Cabinet except as a show for the always over-critical Goyim,
And one of the first results is that the inept Gantz (and Lapid) is criticizing the PM notwithstanding the PMs desire to show that Israel today is locked into unity. He can contribute nothing but negativity and commonplace platitudes
Yes, I expect that there will be an exhaustive investigation into the Intelligence failure, but that must wait until after the War. It will take a year or more, just as previous post war investigations have done. By which time Israel may be embroiled in another War, perhaps with Syria, or even a combination of the “Old Buddies” Syria, Jordan and Egypt, backed by Iranian money derived from US largesse.
Let us hope that the JO will be in power in Jordan by then and thus, an ally of Israel.
Yes it will all come out. The truth is stubborn in that way.
In this article,
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20104/hamas-ruse
Amir Taheri points out the specific actions taken by Hamas and Iran to fool Israeli intelligence into thinking their main threat was from the Palestinian Nazis in the West Bank instead of in Gaza.
The fact that Israeli security and intelligence agents could be fooled is still the issue.
Mistakes can be made, because to err is human. But Israel’s history since 1948 has proven that Israel cannot afford the luxury of mistakes that will result in devastating attacks on the homeland.
There is no question that prior to the attack, there were members of the Israeli Air Force and members of the IDF who were not showing up for active or reserve duty in protest against the Netanyahu government.
I do not know how many servicemen or women this involved. I do not know if people who worked in intelligence and security agencies were also involved in resistance to the Netanyahu government. I also do not know in what ways the Biden administration Intelligence Community, which works with Israeli intelligence, may have purposely foiled the attempts of Israeli Intelligence to understand the reality of the threat situation. Furthermore, it seems to me that it would make sense that if a US government hostile to Israel takes power, that Israeli intelligence would be suspicious of information gained from US sources.
The question of the role of the Israeli security and intelligence agencies in refusing to follow up on reports made from posts in the south of Israel about Hamas forces’ activity prior to the attack remains, and will need to be answered in the future.
I think it is noteworthy that the leaders of the opposition, who have great personal animus towards Netanyahu and wanted his government to fall, and still want his government to fall, would be so quick to criticize Netanyahu for being, in essence, “unpatriotic.” For that is, in fact, what they are and what they were. People who feel guilty are the first to accuse others of the crimes or misdemeanors for which they criticize themselves.
Netanyahu HAD to make clear to Israelis that he was given no information that would have led to better preparation and/or prevention of the attack on October 7. He had to do this even intuiting that he would have to retract it. He had to let the people of Israel know he would NEVER have allowed this to happen had he been aware of a pending attack. His statement did not impugn the men and women in the field, fighting for the survival of Israel. It merely implicated men at the highest levels of security and intelligence agencies who were and are responsible for preventing these attacks.
He can take responsibility as the sitting PM, but he should not have to take responsibility as if HE HIMSELF hid information regarding an impending attack from his people and allowed the attack to happen anyway. The people need to and have a right to know who is responsible for what. They also need to know there is someone willing to tell the truth to them, and that he or she stands with the People of Israel in wanting to get to the truth of what happened.
It will all come out.