Netanyahu Claims He Wasn't Warned About the Concrete Danger Posed by Hamas. He Damn Well Was

Haaretz Editorial
Aug 30th 2024

Opposition leader Yair Lapid's testimony to an independent civilian commission of inquiry into the events of October 7 refuted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that the government was never told that Hamas was not deterred and that there was a concrete danger of an attack on Israel.

According to Lapid, Netanyahu's military secretary, Maj. Gen. Avi Gil, said in a joint briefing a year ago, against the background of the government coup, that officials in the terrorist organizations had identified "weakness, social division, tensions and a loss of preparedness in the military, alongside an emerging crisis with the Americans." Lapid added, "I was shown intelligence at the highest level of classification. And its meaning was unequivocal – Israel was at especially high risk."

Lapid said the head of the Shin Bet security service, Ronen Bar, also warned Netanyahu. The evening before the Knesset voted to abolish the use of the reasonableness standard, Bar met with Lapid and warned him of the coup and the internal schism it had caused. Lapid said he asked Bar explicitly whether these warnings were relayed to Netanyahu and other members of the security cabinet, and the answer was "of course they were."

Lapid also said that last September he attended a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee at which the lawmakers were told that "Israel's deterrence has eroded dramatically and our enemies believe they have a rare opportunity to harm us." That is why he issued a press release after the meeting saying that "all the heads of the defense establishment – the IDF, Shin Bet, police and intelligence agencies – are warning the government and the security cabinet about a violent conflagration."

Continued at : https://archive.md/nAS39

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