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Sunday, July 13, 2025
NYT dismisses Netanyahu’s denial of report claiming he prolonged war to stay in power: ‘Does not refute the facts’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The New York Times dismisses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s denial of its July 11 report claiming that he prolonged the war against Hamas in order to stay in power, declaring in a statement that Netanyahu’s response “does not refute the facts of that reporting.”
According to the report, Netanyahu deliberately extended the Gaza war to serve his own political goals of rehabilitating his domestic image and staying in power.
Among the actions listed in the report were Netanyahu’s shelving of a Gaza truce deal that would have secured the release of at least 30 hostages due to a threat by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to bring down the government. He also allegedly derailed a White House effort to secure Israeli-Saudi normalization conditional on ending the Gaza war due to opposition by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
In a statement on Saturday, the Prime Minister’s Office argued that the Times coverage “defames Israel, its brave people and soldiers, and its prime minister.”
In response, The New York Times states that its investigation drew “on dozens of government records and military documents and interviews with more than 110 officials in Israel, the US, and across the Arab world.”
“Our role as independent journalists is to report and disclose information vital to the public interest, and to hold leaders to account regardless of party. The statement from the Prime Minister’s office does not refute the facts of that reporting. What the Times investigation shows in detail is how prolonging the Gaza war helped Mr. Netanyahu stay in power,” the Times asserts.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) has issued a statement criticizing The New York Times Magazine investigative profile piece, "How Netanyahu Prolonged the War in Gaza to Stay in Power." Read our response and find a gift link to the full investigation below. pic.twitter.com/lRqMQlM6Tz
— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) July 12, 2025
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