Netanyahu to Channel 14: Calls for IDF reservists not to serve were partially to blame for Oct. 7

Asked by Channel 14’s Patriots program whether calls by IDF reservists to refuse to serve, in light of the government’s controversial judicial overhaul legislation, had led in part to the October 7 Hamas onslaught, Netanyahu responds that the months of anti-government protests were “a disaster,” which “came from the left.”

In the first interview the prime minister gives to a Hebrew-language outlet since the outbreak of the war with Hamas, Netanyahu says: “I said it [protests] endangered Israel at the time.”

The reservists’ refusal to serve was “an important factor” in the failures surrounding the October 7 massacre, Netanyahu says, “but not the main factor.”