Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a “thorough examination” of his government’s failures during the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack will be conducted after the war in Gaza ends.
During an interview with “Dr. Phil” McGraw on Thursday, Mr. Netanyahu admitted that there were “failures” on his government’s part as the people were left unprotected during the Hamas terror attack.
“There were failures, obviously,” he said. “The government’s first responsibility is to protect the people. That’s the ultimate enveloping responsibility. And the people weren’t protected. We have to admit that.”
Mr. Netanyahu said the government will need to provide “a thorough explanation” to the people about what went wrong on the night when the attack occurred.
He said that Israeli authorities will need to conduct a “thorough examination” of the incident once the war in Gaza has concluded, to find out “exactly what happened, how it happened, and who made it happen.”
“I hold myself and everyone on this. I think we have to examine how it happened. What was the intelligence failure? What was the military failure?” he said. “We can delve into it but I think the important thing right now is to make sure that we don’t have another failure.”
Mr. Netanyahu said that Israel’s goal now is to achieve victory in its war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, noting that it would be the country’s “greatest failure” if Hamas were to control Gaza again.
Hamas terrorists killed about 1,200 people and abducted over 250 hostages during their Oct. 7 attack on Israel, triggering Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza, which the Hamas-run health department said now has led to over 34,800 deaths. This number includes both combatants and civilians.
Mr. Netanyahu’s interview came after President Joe Biden announced that the United States will not “supply the weapons and artillery shells” to Israel if the Israeli leader proceeds with his plan to invade Rafah, where about half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are seeking shelter.
“If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone. But we have much more than fingernails,” the Israeli leader said in a video posted on X, formerly Twitter.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States had attempted to convince Israel that “there is a different way to go about dealing with the Hamas threat in Rafah and succeeding in ensuring the long-term defense and security of Israel.”
“What I can tell you is the U.S. position has been clear on this,” Mr. Sullivan told reporters on April 24. “We are still in those conversations, and we will still continue to press our perspective.”
