PM says lesson of October 7 is that buffer zones must be established beyond Israel’s borders

Asked during his Channel 14 appearance if he was changed by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the invasion and massacre affected his approach to Israel’s security doctrine, citing the need for buffer zones inside enemy territory.

“Let’s just say that I learned lessons. I drew conclusions. And you have to move with reality,” he says.

“The most important thing, in my view, is first and foremost having buffer zones inside enemy territory — not inside our territory. I don’t want the communities of the north to be some kind of frontier region whose reality is different from that of the areas immediately south of them,” the premier says.

The remarks come amid ongoing public debate over accountability for the attack, which led several senior military and intelligence officials to publicly acknowledge failures and resign. Netanyahu has not explicitly accepted personal responsibility for the attack and has refused to establish a state commission of inquiry, instead calling for a politically controlled probe of the Hamas attack and aftermath.

Pressed further by the pro-Netanyahu channel on how he personally has changed since the massacre, the premier jokes, “first of all, I lost a little weight,” before pivoting to a review of wartime decisions he said he championed, including a broader reserve mobilization than initially planned, the campaign against Hamas, operations against Hezbollah, actions in Syria and strikes on Iran.

Asked if there will be a third confrontation with Iran, Netanyahu replies: “If necessary,” repeating his vow that, “as long as I am prime minister, Iran will not have nuclear weapons.”

On Gaza, he is asked whether past proposals for the “voluntary emigration” of Gazans remain under consideration after being roundly rejected by much of the international community, which accused backers of the idea of trying to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its Palestinians. Netanyahu declines to elaborate, saying: “I prefer to talk less and do more.”

He is similarly noncommittal when asked about the prospect of renewed Israeli settlement in Gaza, saying only that “sometimes it’s advisable to separate” actions from public statements, and that “therefore, I have nothing further to add on that matter.” In the past, he had ruled out Gaza settlements, but appears to be adapting his public stance as elections approach.

Netanyahu says that Israel achieved two of three war aims: returning the hostages and eliminating Hamas as a military threat.

“The first objective, of course, was to bring back all of our hostages. And we achieved that,” he says, without noting that some hostages were killed in captivity or died before being recovered.

“The second objective was to dismantle Hamas and ensure that Gaza would no longer pose a military threat to Israel. And at the moment, it doesn’t,” he adds, reiterating that there was no military response from Hamas after the recent assassination of its top official Izz al-Din al-Haddad.

“We are in control. We are squeezing them. We also had a third objective, and that objective has not yet been achieved: eliminating their civilian rule. We will get there. There is still work to do. But there are constant operations targeting those who participated in October 7,” he says, adding that “we will find” anyone who remains who planned or participated in the attack.