Amid the intensifying Israel-Palestine conflict, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced flak over taking a jab at his intel officers.
Taking to X, Netanyahu said the security chiefs never warned him Hamas was planning its wide-scale attack on October 7. Drawing sharp criticism over his attempts to blame them, Netanyahu later deleted the post and issued an apology.
"Contrary to the false claims: Under no circumstances and at no stage was Prime Minister Netanyahu warned of Hamas's war intentions," read the earlier tweet posted around 1 am, reported The Times of Israel.
His tweet had caused a political uproar with many critcising PM for not taking the responsibility over intelligence failures.
“On the contrary, all the security officials, including the head of military intelligence and the head of the Shin Bet, assessed that Hamas had been deterred and was looking for a settlement. This assessment was submitted again and again to the prime minister and the cabinet by all the security forces and intelligence community, up until the outbreak of the war," the tweet further said.
Top officials including the military operations head and finance minister had agreed the failure of not anticipating an attack.
Former Mossad chief Yossad Cohen had said that responsibility is something you take at the start of your job, not midway.
After deleting his original post, Netanyahu had issued an apology saying "I was wrong. The things I said following the press conference should not have been said and I apologize for that."
“I give full backing to all the heads of the security services. I am sending strength to the [IDF] chief of staff and the commanders and soldiers of the IDF who are on the frontlines and fighting for our home," he added.
Former defence minister Benny Gantz, who is in Netanyahu’s war cabinet said “when we are at war, leadership must show responsibility. He also urged the PM to retract his statement.
The surprise Hamas attack on October 7 killed nearly 1,500 people in Israel. Over 2,500 Hamas militants crossed the border with Gaza Strip and kidnapped Israelis. According to IDF, around 200 people were held hostages by Hamas in Gaza.