Barak slams Netanyahu at Oct. 7 probe: ‘Worthy leader doesn’t allow his country to weaken like this’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Former prime minister Ehud Barak slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while testifying before an independent civilian commission of inquiry into October 7.
“A worthy leader does not allow the country he heads to weaken like this, when he is repeatedly warned of the meaning of what he is doing,” Barak argues.
Barak recalls that Netanyahu has previously stated that he was aware of Hamas plans similar to those carried out last October.
Addressing the Knesset State Control Committee in 2017, Netanyahu said Hamas had an operational plan for a multi-pronged attack, including thousands of missiles on Israeli cities, naval commando raids, hang gliders and incursions from dozens of tunnels, some of which come up in [Israeli] territory.”
However, “one of the reasons that [Hamas] is deterred is because I have a policy, that I’m not willing to tolerate droplets [of violence], and there’s always a strong reaction, usually very fast, on every such droplet,” Netanyahu said at the time.
Barak also appears to reference the four communiques from the Military Intelligence Directorate received by Netanyahu in the spring and summer of 2023 warning him about how the country’s enemies viewed the upheaval in Israeli society at the time.
Recalling his experience as both defense minister and IDF chief of staff, Barak notes that “before sending such letters, there are many oral conversations” in which the prime minister is warned about the topic of the missives.
A week ago, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid testified before the committee that Netanyahu had appeared “bored and indifferent to the issue” during an August 21, 2023, briefing with his military secretary Brig. Gen. Avi Gil.
According to Lapid, during that briefing, Gil stated that Iran and terror groups in Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza “all identified weakness, an internal divide, tensions, and a loss of preparedness in the army, alongside an emerging crisis with the Americans.”
