Israel-Hamas war: PM Netanyahu draws flak for ‘blaming’ intel chiefs; apologises

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.

His tweet had caused a political uproar with many critcising PM for not taking the responsibility over intelligence failures.

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.

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.