Netanyahu after storm over post blaming security chiefs for Oct. 7 failure: ‘I was wrong, I apologize’
Carrie Keller-Lynn is a former political and legal correspondent for The Times of Israel

In a rare about-face, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologizes for an earlier statement in which he seemed to foist blame onto the security services and off of himself for failing to prevent Hamas’s murderous October 7 terror attack, the largest against Israel in its 75-year history.
“I was wrong. The things I said following the press conference should not have been said and I apologize for that,” Netanyahu writes on X, shortly after deleting his original statement on the same platform.
The prime minister adds: “I give full backing to all the heads of the security services. I am sending strength to the [IDF] chief of staff and the commanders and soldiers of the IDF who are on the frontlines and fighting for our home.”
Late on Saturday night, Netanyahu wrote a post on X (formerly Twitter), insisting that he never received any warnings of Hamas “war intentions” at any stage, and adding that “all the security services, including the head of military intelligence and the head of the Shin Bet, were of the opinion that Hamas was deterred and wanted to come to a settlement.”
Earlier this morning, the Prime Minister’s Office released a statement to explain Netanyahu’s by-then-deleted post on X
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Following a Saturday night press conference “serious accusations that the prime minister received specific warnings about the war, which was not the case, were repeated and resurfaced,” the statement read, saying that “the prime minister responded to this” and has “full confidence” in the security and defense forces.