Netanyahu Blames Military Chiefs for October 7 Failures

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the heads of the Israeli military and the Shin Bet security agency of responsibility for the failures that preceded the October 7th Hamas attack. Netanyahu's office stated that Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi saw all the warning signs hours before the assault. The Prime Minister's office asserted that had they acted proactively instead of fearing miscalculation, and had they informed Netanyahu in a timely manner, the "terrible massacre" could have been prevented.

This statement came in response to a report by the newspaper Haaretz, which Netanyahu's lawyers are suing for libel. The Haaretz report, citing journalist Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval's book, alleged that the UAE President, Mohammed bin Zayed, had warned Netanyahu about an impending Hamas operation shortly before the attack. Netanyahu's office vehemently denied any conversations with the UAE president on this matter between early September and October 7th, stating that call logs and visitor records showed no evidence of an Emirati representative visiting with an encrypted device. They characterized the report as "malicious libel with a clear political context" from the left-wing election campaign.

Haaretz defended its publication, standing by its reporting based on Eldar and Yuval's work. The report suggested that intelligence about Hamas's planned "earthquake" operation was conveyed through a Palestinian source in Abu Dhabi. An Emirati source confirmed the warning, while official Abu Dhabi offered no direct denial, only noting ongoing communication and intelligence sharing channels.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called the report an "accurate description." Opposition leaders Yair Lapid, Benny Gantz, and Avigdor Lieberman reiterated their calls for a state commission of inquiry. Netanyahu's office also dismissed claims of warnings from Egypt, noting these had been refuted earlier in the war.