In meeting days before Oct. 7, PM reportedly prioritized maintaining quiet with Hamas

Less than a week before the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his top advisers and security chiefs to maintain the status quo with Hamas in which the terror group received economic incentives to maintain quiet, Channel 12 reports.

The reports come days after Netanyahu released a 55-page document with selected quotations from cabinet meetings in the years leading up to October 7 that paint a picture in which the premier ostensibly pushed for aggressive policies against Hamas, whereas current political rivals and security chiefs urged long-term deals with Hamas and blocked the assassinations of Hamas leaders.

But Netanyahu omitted the October 1, 2023, meeting from his answers to the state comptroller’s inquiry into October 7 that he released on Thursday night.

“The prime minister expressed great appreciation to all the security services on their activities to maintain the quiet on all fronts,” reads the leaked summary of that meeting, “with an emphasis on the holidays, and stresses that we must act with moderation in order to cool down the fronts and avoid escalation…”

In the meeting, according to the network, Netanyahu also conditioned any assassinations of Hamas leaders on conflict breaking out, and even then instructed the defense establishment to focus on the West Bank leadership.

Netanyahu defined Israel’s goals at the time as making progress on normalization with Saudi Arabia and avoiding any escalation with adversaries.

Netanyahu, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Mossad Chief David Barnea, Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer attended the October 1, 2023, meeting.

Senior defense officials tell Channel 12 that Netanyahu’s release of selected quotations takes them out of context and does “irreparable damage” to ties between the political and security echelons.