Smotrich says there is a lot to apologize for on Oct. 7 anniversary

By Sam Sokol 7 October 2024, 10:42 am

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Sam 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"

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends a Knesset Finance Committee meeting, in Jerusalem, on September 16, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Asked during a livestream by the Ynet news site if he wants to ask for forgiveness, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich expresses regret over Hamas’s October 7 attack, stating that “there is a lot for which [to apologize] and to whom [to do so].”

“The State of Israel that we all love and appreciate was not there for dozens of hours for many of its citizens who hid themselves in shelters, closets and attics,” he says.

“We are in the ten days of repentance. To repent is to correct things that we didn’t do well enough,” he says, referring to the period in the run-up to Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.

His comments come after a lengthy post on X yesterday in which he wrote “beware of the sin of arrogance” and noted “the failure of our arrogance on October 7.”

Smotrich has previously taken responsibility for the failures of October 7, telling a press conference last October that “we have to admit with pain and with a bowed head — we failed. The country’s leadership and the security system have failed in maintaining the security of our residents.”