Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday took a jab at his intelligence chiefs, saying they never warned him Hamas was planning its attack on October 7th that left 1,400 Israelis dead.
He later retracted his comments and issued an apology.
The remarks were posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, at 1.00am on Sunday. They caused a political uproar and a rift within the war cabinet of Mr 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, Mr Netanyahu has not.
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He has only said that there would be time to ask tough questions, including of himself, after the war.
[ Labyrinth of Hamas tunnels poses greatest threat to Israeli offensive in GazaOpens in new window ]
Israel’s military spokesperson, asked about Mr 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.
Mr 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.”
In a second post on X about 10 hours later, he wrote: “I was wrong,” adding that his remarks “should not have been made and I apologise for that.”
“I give full backing to all the heads of the security branches,” he said.
The initial comments were quickly rebuked by current and past allies, including Benny Gantz, a former defense minister who is now in Mr Netanyahu’s war cabinet.
Mr Gantz said on X that the prime minister should retract what he said and let the matter go.
“When we are at war, leadership must show responsibility, decide to do the right things and bolster the forces in a way that they can carry out what we demand of them,” Mr Gantz said.
The well-planned surprise Hamas attack was the deadliest for Israel in its 75-year history. Israel has since bombarded the Gaza Strip with devastating air strikes and begun ground operations with the aim of toppling the Iran-backed Islamist group and returning scores of captives abducted from Israel to Gaza.
The retracted post “points to just one thing: he (Netanyahu) is not interested in security, he is not interested in hostages, only politics,” said opposition lawmaker Avigdor Lieberman, once Mr Netanyahu’s defence minister, in a radio interview.
Yossi Cohen, who headed the Mossad spy agency under previous Netanyahu governments, told Israel Radio: “You take responsibility from the beginning of your job, not from the middle.” - Reuters