Ex-Aide Says Netanyahu Tasked Him With Making A Plan To Evade Responsibility For Oct. 7 Attack

JERUSALEM (AP) — A former close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says this in the wake of the October 2023 Hamas attack that triggered Israel’s two-year war in Jerusalem. GazaThe Israeli leader instructed him to find out how the prime minister could avoid responsibility for the security breach.

Former Netanyahu spokesman Eli Feldstein, who is on trial for allegedly leaking classified information to the press, made the explosive accusation during an extensive interview with Israel’s Kan news channel on Monday night.

Critics have repeatedly accused Netanyahu of refusing to accept responsibility for the deadliest attack in Israeli history. But little is known about Netanyahu’s behavior in the days following the attack; The prime minister has consistently resisted an independent state investigation.

Speaking to Kan, Feldstein said that the “first task” he received from Netanyahu after October 7, 2023 was to suppress calls for accountability.

“They asked me, ‘What are they talking about on the news? Are they still talking about responsibility?'” Feldstein said. “he asked,” he said. “He asked me to think of something that could be said that would offset the media storm about whether the Prime Minister had taken responsibility.”

He added that Netanyahu appeared “panicked” in making the request. Feldstein said he was later told by members of Netanyahu’s inner circle to remove the word “responsibility” from all of his statements.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants killed approximately 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 hostages, taking them back to Gaza. Israel then launched a devastating war in Gaza that killed nearly 71,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which did not distinguish between civilians and combatants but said about half of the deaths were women and children.

Netanyahu’s office described the interview as “a long series of fabricated and recycled claims made by a man with obvious personal interests who is trying to shift responsibility away from himself,” Hebrew media reported.

Feldstein’s statements came after the indictment a case in which he was accused of leaking He gave classified military information to a German tabloid newspaper to improve public perception of the prime minister after the killing of six hostages. Gaza in August last year.

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