Netanyahu's lack of trust in the army and intelligence draws criticism

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attempt to shift the blame for the security failure in the attacks launched from the blockaded Gaza Strip into Israel onto the army and the internal intelligence agency Shin Bet has drawn criticism from politicians in the country, with comments that the Prime Minister has "crossed the red line."

Former Israeli Chief of General Staff and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi commented under Netanyahu's post on his X social media account, asking the Prime Minister to remove the post and adding, "We are at war."

Opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid also stated on his X account, using the phrase "Netanyahu crossed the red line," and wrote the following:

“While Israeli soldiers and commanders are fighting valiantly against Hamas and Hezbollah, instead of supporting them, he is trying to blame them. Attempts to evade responsibility and shift the blame onto the security establishment weaken the Israeli army while it is fighting Israel's enemies.”

The leader of the opposition Yesh Atid (There is a Future) Party noted that Netanyahu should apologize for these remarks.

NETANYAHU "MUST STOP DEALING WITH THIS ISSUE"

Benny Gantz, leader of the opposition National Unity bloc and former Defense Minister who joined the war cabinet formed after October 7, argued that at a time when "the Israeli army and intelligence are at war," the "political leadership must show responsibility and support Israeli forces as expected of them."

Stating that "any other action or statement harms the resilience and strength of the public," Gantz called for, "The Prime Minister must retract his statement from last night and stop dealing with this issue."

Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party and Minister of Finance, one of Netanyahu's coalition partners, also opposed Netanyahu's statement, noting that "it is wrong to weaken the commanders of the Israeli army."

Smotrich noted that "now is the time to act responsibly and to support and strengthen one another, even if they are at fault."

'HE IS WELL-FED WITH CHAMPAGNE'

Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli also commented, "While our children are eating ready-made food in the Gaza Strip and his own son is sunbathing in Miami, Netanyahu is sitting in his office well-fed with cigars and champagne, blaming army commanders for the Simchat Torah disaster."

In a statement on her X account, Michaeli said, "While the Israeli army is fighting Hamas, Netanyahu is fighting the Israeli army and the people of Israel. Israel will win."

Netanyahu had shifted the blame for the security failure in the attacks carried out by Hamas from the blockaded Gaza Strip on October 7 onto the Israeli army and the internal intelligence agency Shin Bet in a post on his social media accounts.

Netanyahu had stated that "the claims that the Prime Minister was informed about the attacks launched from the Gaza Strip on October 7 were baseless, and on the contrary, no warning had been received."

Netanyahu stated that "on the contrary, the Israeli army and Shin Bet (Shabak) had assessed that Hamas was deterred and that calm had been achieved."

The Israeli Prime Minister deleted his post after a while.