Ben-Gvir Claims Oct. 7 Attack Could Have Been Prevented Under His Leadership

The Otzma Yehudit party has launched a new campaign featuring billboards and a video asserting that the October 7th Hamas attacks would not have occurred if Itamar Ben-Gvir had been the Minister of Defense. The campaign highlights a speech Ben-Gvir gave on May 9, 2023, approximately five months before the attacks, in which he called for a change in security doctrine and for decisive action against Israel's enemies.

In the campaign video, Ben-Gvir is heard stating, "The State of Israel must change the conception. The conception must be a conception of seeking contact, of defeating the enemy. And no more containing and containing and containing and containing." The accompanying narration claims Ben-Gvir warned about this doctrine and demanded policy changes, but was ignored.

The video concludes with the message: "Today it is already clear: Israel needs a Minister of Defense who thinks differently, identifies the danger in time, and defeats the enemy. If Ben-Gvir had been the Minister of Defense, the seventh of October would not have happened."

Following public outcry over the billboards, Ben-Gvir responded to critics, stating, "I see the whining of the left following the signs that Otzma Yehudit hung this morning, which read: 'If Ben-Gvir had been the Minister of Defense, the 7.10 would not have happened,' and it only sharpens for me that they too, deep down, know the truth."

He further elaborated that when he demanded targeted assassinations before October 7th, the same people dismissed him for not being a general. When he warned that Israel was trapped in its doctrine and needed to defeat the enemy, they mocked him. Ben-Gvir concluded his response by saying, "Even now they will shout and attack. They will talk, and we will work."