‘I wasn’t in makeup’: Gallant slams Netanyahu’s ‘atmosphere of defeatism’ in days after Oct. 7

In an interview with Channel 12 news, former defense minister Yoav Gallant says he didn’t see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Kirya military HQ in Tel Aviv until 10 a.m. on October 7, 2023, some 3.5 hours after Hamas-launched its devastating invasion of Israel.

Asked if the two spoke by phone before then, Gallant says he can’t remember “but in any case there was not a meaningful [call] and I don’t know who initiated it.”

Gallant dismisses the notion that Netanyahu was the only senior figure holding it together in the days after the onslaught, telling the network to look at pictures from meetings at the time to determine “who looked how.”

“I, by the way, was not in makeup,” Gallant says in a dig at Netanyahu. “I saw a prime minister who was either producing or feeling and bringing an atmosphere of defeatism. It really worried me.”

Gallant is also dismissive of Netanyahu’s claim that “everything would have looked different” if he was woken up before the attack.

“OK, they woke him up at 6:30, and he arrived [at the Kirya] at 10. If they woke him up during the night, he apparently would’ve gotten there around 3.5 hours later,” he says.

The ruling Likud party in response accuses Gallant of lying and insists Netanyahu was at the Kirya by 8:22 a.m. “and waited for Gallant and the chief of staff until 9:55,” without specifying what the premier did during that time.

“In any case, for hours later there was no relevant situational assessment to present to the prime minister,” Likud adds.