Gallant: Netanyahu is a liar, he’s built a false narrative surrounding Oct. 7, and he undermined our security chiefs

Former defense minister Yoav Gallant calls Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a liar” and accuses him of stitching together a false narrative surrounding the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in order to evade responsibility. He also accuses Netanyahu of stirring up his government ministers against Israel’s security chiefs even as they led their troops on the front lines against Hamas.

“I did not think I would have to come here to the studio and say, We have a liar for prime minister. The prime minister is a liar,” Gallant says in a coruscating Channel 12 interview in which he repeatedly castigates his former boss.

“After the huge failure on Oct 7., when the IDF and Shin Bet, led by the chief of staff and the Shin Bet chief, were courageously fighting back, when they were at the front, Netanyahu stabbed them in the back and stirred up all the government ministers against them and presented it all to the public,” Gallant charges.

The former Likud MK, who was fired as defense minister in late 2024, accuses Netanyahu of claiming that a delay in the IDF entering the southern Gaza city of Rafah in early 2024 was due to the supposed fear of the IDF leadership, when in reality, as the prime minister knew well, it was because ammunition had been allocated for a potential conflict in the north, and the IDF was replenishing its supplies.

Says Gallant: “Netanyahu’s first priority is himself, then his government, and then the country.”

“Netanyahu takes credit for actions after they are completed, if they succeed,” claims Gallant. “If they don’t succeed, it’s someone else’s responsibility.”

Gallant’s criticism of Netanyahu comes two days after the prime minister attempted to distance himself from the failures of October 7 by releasing the full 55-page document of his answers given to the state comptroller as part of the ombudsman’s investigation into the attack.

Among the selective citations provided by Netanyahu were quotes that appeared aimed at pinning the failure to prevent the onslaught on political rivals and security chiefs, including then defense minister Gallant. It cited deliberations in the month before October 7, including a cabinet meeting on September 12, 2023, in which Gallant was quoted as saying the security situation in Gaza is “stable,” and that Israel should “hold back its forces” against Hamas.

Netanyahu’s response to the state comptroller, Gallant charges, “is a case of engineering the narrative — taking fragments of discussions, sentences, from across lengthy periods, putting them together, turning them into a news item.”

Rather than the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,  “Netanyahu doesn’t tell the truth, certainly not the whole truth, and certainly not nothing but the truth,” his former defense minister says.

Gallant also rejects Netanyahu’s claim, at a January 27 press conference, that IDF soldiers were killed in the war against Hamas because of a Biden Administration “embargo” that left ground forces lacking essential ammunition. “That’s not correct,” says Gallant, “[though] the Americans made it difficult for us.”

Netanyahu and Gallant frequently clashed after the government took power at the end of 2022, with the prime minister firing him in March 2023 — after he had warned of the security dangers stemming from the national rift over the government’s judicial overhaul agenda — only to reverse the move amid intense public objection.

Gallant ultimately resigned from the Knesset in January 2025, several months after Netanyahu fired him from his cabinet for the second and final time in late 2024.

The Likud party has since launched proceedings to expel Gallant from its ranks.