Israeli opposition has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being slow to respond to alerts from Israel’s security apparatus of Hamas’ 7 October attack.
According to Israel’s Channel 12, Netanyahu was alerted to the attack at 6.29 am.
The Prime Minister, however, was said to have failed to contact Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, between then and arriving at the Kirya, Israel’s central military hub, at 9 am.
The report said that although Netanyahu’s Office published diaries marking his arrival at 9, his actual arrival time was at 9.30.
The Prime Minister equally blamed Israel’s security chiefs for not waking him up to share news of a Hamas attack.
He stated that he would have immediately mobilised Israel’s military, despite the Channel 12 report saying he was woken up at 6.29.
Ahead of Israel’s October election, there have been accusations and recriminations between the government and the opposition over responsibility for preventing the October 7 2023 Hamas attack.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has persistently dismissed calls for a state commission of inquiry into the events of the day that would determine how the attack played out and offer recommendations on personal culpability.
It will be recalled that Netanyahu’s biggest challenger, former general and leader of the Yashar party, Gadi Eisenkot, brought up another incident in which the current premier was reportedly slow to respond.
According to the former general, he was unable to reach Netanyahu for two hours following the shooting down of an Israeli jet by Syrian anti-aircraft fire in 2018.
‘You were slow to respond to Oct 7 attack’ – Israeli PM Netanyahu faces backlash