Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apologized after criticizing his intelligence chiefs for failing to warn him about Hamas’ large-scale attack on October 7.
His comments caused a political disturbance and created a division within his war cabinet.
Netanyahu has been criticized for not taking the blame for the intelligence and operational shortcomings that allowed for the Hamas attack in southern Israel.
The post, which was removed, showed his effort to avoid taking any blame, instead criticizing his security chiefs.
“Under no circumstances and at no stage was Prime Minister Netanyahu warned of war intentions on the part of Hamas. On the contrary, the assessment of the entire security echelon, including the head of military intelligence and the head of Shin Bet, was that Hamas was deterred and was seeking an arrangement,” read the post, which was later deleted.
It added that the security and intelligence community repeatedly provided the prime minister and the cabinet with its evaluation, all the way up to the war’s beginning.
The post caused a lot of anger among Israeli security officials, revealing significant internal disagreement.
In response, Netanyahu posted another message admitting his mistake and apologizing for his previous comments. He expressed full support for the leaders of the security divisions and emphasized his commitment to strengthening the IDF (Israeli Defense Force).
