JERUSALEM — The office of Benjamin Netanyahu rejected accusations by a former senior aide who said the prime minister moved quickly after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack to deflect responsibility for Israel’s worst security failure.
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The allegations were made by Eli Feldstein, a former Netanyahu spokesperson, during an interview with Kan aired Monday night. Feldstein said Netanyahu appeared alarmed by media discussion of accountability in the days following the attack and asked him to help counter the narrative.
According to Feldstein, he was later instructed by figures within Netanyahu’s inner circle to avoid using the word “responsibility” in public statements.
Netanyahu’s office dismissed the interview as a series of false claims, describing Feldstein as someone with personal legal interests seeking to deflect blame, Hebrew-language media reported.
Feldstein is facing trial for allegedly leaking classified military information to a foreign newspaper in an effort to improve public perception of the prime minister after the killing of six Israeli hostages in Gaza last year. He is also a suspect in a separate investigation involving alleged financial ties between Netanyahu aides and Qatar.
Netanyahu has consistently opposed an independent state inquiry into the failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attack.
bibi will never acknowledge any blame
Bibi’s circle first tried to have Feldstein repped by the same lawyer who reps Bibi and Urlich (true mafia stuff from the movies). Feldstein chapped they were setting him up to take the fall (i.e., say he acted independently and Urlich and Bibi didn’t know) so he switched and got his own independent lawyer.
I think Bibi did a great job fighting this war with Gaza. He was also very good before Oct 7. But he still gets the blame for Oct 7. The two key failures of Oct 7 was our lack of knowledge of Hamas and our lack of preparedness to respond and repel such attacks. Now there are many subcategories within that (such as a lack of a clear plan how to retake Gaza should we need to one day). For both those failures yes its the fact that the buck stops at the top. But its much deeper than that. Bibi wasn’t a new PM that just learning the trade. He is around for 25 years+. He was the PM for the overwhelming majorty of that time too. He has seen all the ins and outs and all the developments of the Palestinians. He had plenty of time to think of these things. He received plenty of warnings about Hamas and Hezbollah. I don’t buy that nothing ever reached the top when around for so long. The whole thing smells from arrognace and being over confident. When he gets it gets it. He is savy and wise. A genuis in navagating wars and world leaders. But he lost it on this one. For that I still say he needs to retire and we need fresh blood. We needed him for this war since he is the only one able to navigate it all. And maybe we need him till phase 2 But a certain point time is up