Prime Minister Of Israel Apologizes After Blaming Security Chief In A Deleted Social Media Post

The relationship between Israel and Palestinian's Hamas is always complex and volatile, and in October 2023, things get a lot worse.

The Hamas' surprise attack on Israel angered Israeli's Prime Minister so much, that he refuses to cease fire. Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel would continue attacking Gaza, even when civilians and children are dead from the attacks.

At least until all hostages taken by Hamas are released, Netanyahu is determined.

That determination made him face a barrage of criticism from many other government leaders and and United Nations' agencies, as well as citizens from many countries around the world

Netanyahu is attacked not only from outside, but from inside as well, following his apparent mistake, which was made public in a social media post.

In the post, the Prime Minister made remarks, and blamed his own defense and intelligence establishment, claiming that they gave him faulty assessments before the deadly Hamas attack on October 7th.

Netanyahu asserted that he had never received any warning about Hamas' intentions to start a war against Israel and blamed the defense establishment – citing Aharon Haliva and Ronen Bar, the heads of Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet security service – for Israel’s failure to anticipate the attack on October 7.

"At no time and no stage was a warning given to Prime Minister Netanyahu regarding war intentions of Hamas."

The post went on to say that “every defense official, including the heads of MI and the Shin Bet, believed that Hamas was deterred and sought accommodation. This was the assessment that was presented time and time again to the prime minister and the cabinet by all defense officials and the intelligence community up to the outbreak of the war."

Former IDF chief Gabi Ashkenazi and foreign minister, called on Netanyahu to remove the post.

Benny Gantz, a minister and member of the war cabinet, also said that Netanyahu "must retract his remarks of last night and cease dealing with this issue."

“Leadership requires showing responsibility. Any other kind of word or action harms the nation’s resilience and strength," Gantz said.

"We’re all with you and behind all. All of Israeli society is carrying the burden. Don't look up or look back – continue your mission," he continued, showing his support.

Due to the political uproar and a rift within the war cabinet, Netanyahu did what he was told.

After he deleted the controversial post ,he published another post, where he did something extremely rare: apologizing.

"I was wrong," adding that his remarks "should not have been made and I apologize for that."

He said that this time, he fully backs the heads of Israel's security establishment.

Former head of Mossad, Israeli's intelligence agency, said that Netanyahu is responsible for what his decision, and as a Prime Minister, this war is his responsibility.

"Responsibility comes when you begin the job, not during it," said Yossi Cohen, a person who is also a close ally to Netanyahu.

"When I was given responsibility for the Mossad, from that moment on everything that happened in that organization until my final day there, almost five years, was my responsibility."

"Everything that happened is one big and very serious failure. All the senior defense establishment officials are speaking out loud about the debacle and the intelligence and operational failure."

He emphasized that "the people of Israel not only deserve answers, they deserve a better system, at every level that knows how to protect the citizens of the State of Israel in and out, within the State of Israel and on its borders".

And here, Netanyahu's post and apology came hours after Netanyahu held a news conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Gantz, during which the Prime Minister answered questions from the media for the first time since the war began.

As in previous remarks, Netanyahu said that "after the war everyone will have to give answers to hard questions. That includes me. Right now, my task is to save the country. This was a terrible failure. It'll be thoroughly investigated, I promise. Not one stone will be left unturned."

He termed the war as "a second War of Independence" for Israel.

While Netanyahu claimed that he "fought three wars" against the Hamas, and that he managed to weaken the political and military organization governing the Gaza Strip of the Palestinian territories, several of his defense establishment stated the opposite.

Leaders of some of Israeli's defense establishment have publicly acknowledged their responsibility for the failures that led to the Hamas attack, including the heads of Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet, Gallant, Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi and Tzachi Hanegbi, the head of the National Security Council.

"We failed to live up to our most important mission, and, as the head of MI, I bear full responsibility for the failure," said Haliva, the head of MI, to soldiers under his command.

Bar, the head of the Shin Bet, made a similar statement.

"Despite a series of steps that we had undertaken, unfortunately, on Saturday we were unable to provide an adequate warning to enable the attack to be thwarted. As the one who heads the organization, the responsibility for this is on me," he said.

But Netanyahu, as the face of Israel during the war, doesn't want some debate to ruin his goal.

"We are now at war, focused on the war," he said.

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