Former Netanyahu aide says PM sought to deflect blame after October 7 Hamas attack

Allegations over Netanyahu’s post-attack conduct

A former senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has alleged that in the immediate aftermath of the October 2023 Hamas attack that sparked Israel’s two-year war in Gaza, the Israeli leader asked him to find ways to avoid personal responsibility for the security failure.

The claim was made by Eli Feldstein, a former spokesperson for Netanyahu who is facing trial over accusations that he leaked classified material to the media, during a wide-ranging interview aired Monday night on Israel’s Kan television network.

Netanyahu has long been criticised for declining to accept blame for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history, but little has been publicly known about his conduct in the days following the assault. The prime minister has also consistently opposed calls for an independent state inquiry into the events.

In his interview with Kan, Feldstein said “the first task” he was given by Netanyahu after October 7, 2023, was to dampen demands for accountability.

“He asked me, ‘What are they talking about in the news? Are they still talking about responsibility?’” Feldstein said. “He wanted me to think of something that could be said that would offset the media storm surrounding the question of whether the prime minister had taken responsibility or not.”

Feldstein said Netanyahu appeared “panicked” during the exchange, adding that he was later instructed by people close to the prime minister to avoid using the word “responsibility” in any official statements.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted 251 hostages, taking them into Gaza. Israel responded by launching a massive military offensive in Gaza that has killed nearly 71,000 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says about half of those killed were women and children.

Netanyahu’s office called the interview a “long series of mendacious and recycled allegations made by a man with clear personal interests who is trying to deflect responsibility from himself,” Hebrew media reported.

Feldstein’s statements come after his indictment in a case where he is accused of leaking classified military information to a German tabloid to improve public perception of the prime minister following the killing of six hostages in Gaza in August of last year.

Feldstein is also a suspect in the “Qatargate” scandal, one of two close aides to Netanyahu accused of accepting money from Qatar while also working for the prime minister.

(With AP inputs)