PM Netanyahu denies personal responsibility for Oct 7, blames security services

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released an English language video on Monday evening in which he again denied any personal responsibility for the Hamas invasion of Oct. 7, 2023, while also claiming full responsibility for Israel’s achievements in its various conflicts against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran since then. 

The video was posted on Netanyahu’s personal social media platforms on Monday evening before he held meetings with the chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Yuli Edelstein, and leaders of the United Torah Judaism party, in which he attempted to prevent the ultra-Orthodox parties from leaving the coalition. 

In the video, Netanyahu is interviewed by his recently appointed international affairs advisor, Caroline Glick, who has long been an apologist for the embattled leader as he has faced opposition regarding his legal challenges, the Judicial Reform laws, and his handling of the Gaza War, before her appointment as an advisor. 

Posted under the caption “Just the facts,” the video shows Netanyahu being asked “some hard questions that keep coming up in the international media” by Glick. 

“Mr. Prime Minister, we want to ask you some hard questions that keep coming up in the international media,” Glick begins. “First off, your critics claim that the war is your fault, that you brought it on Israel because of your judicial reform program and the mass refusal to serve in the IDF that followed. How do you respond to that?” 

“Well, it's completely bogus,” Netanyahu answered. “I mean, first of all, I said at the time of the judicial reform, I said to our enemies, don't mistake our internal democratic debate [for weakness]. At the day of reckoning, if we are attacked, we shall all be there, left and right. And that's exactly what happened.” 

Just the facts. Watch >> pic.twitter.com/jcxrJlgyg5

— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) July 14, 2025

Next, Glick questioned the prime minister about statements by two former security officials, former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, and former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, who “said they warned you of the impending war in July 2023, and you ignored their warnings. What do you say to that?” Glick asked. 

Claiming that there are “recorded conversations with the entire cabinet,” Netanyahu says that it was Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar who convinced him that Hamas did not want a war. 

“What they said is the opposite,” Netanyahu argues. “They said, ‘There's not going to be any war in Gaza. Hamas is deterred. Hamas just wants workers. They want economic benefits. There's no danger of an impending attack from Hamas.’ And they said it again and again and again.” 

Netanyahu again stated that security officials failed to wake him once information started to come in that Hamas was preparing a large-scale operation.

"And let me tell you another thing that is shocking," he stated. "The attack began 6:29 Saturday morning. Six and a half hours earlier, at midnight, we were getting a lot of intel signs that an attack was being hatched. They didn't call me. They didn't wake up the commander-in-chief. Because let me tell you, if I had received a call, I would have acted differently."

The prime minister also pointed to the existence of a document referred to in Israeli media as the “Jericho Walls” plan, which detailed Hamas plans to attack in a manner very similar to the Oct. 7 attacks, as evidence that the Judicial Reform laws were not the catalyst for the Oct. 7 invasion.

He said that the existence of the plans proves that security and defense establishments failed to correctly understand and interpret Hamas’ intentions. 

Netanyahu also noted that the plans were discovered under the previous “leftist” government. 

“It was hatched by Hamas in 2022, when a leftist government was in power. It didn’t have anything to do with the judicial reform,” Netanyahu stated. 

Despite Netanyahu’s claims, the IDF revealed in May of last year, in response to a freedom of information request, that Netanyahu was provided with at least four official documents, during the spring and summer of 2023, that the large protests and unrest related to the Judicial Reform laws as well as the draft exemptions being planned for Haredi men were causing Israel’s enemies to view the country as weakened. 

At that time, Netanyahu also denied that the documents presented any clear warning of a Hamas attack. 

“Not only is there no warning in any of the documents about Hamas’s intentions to attack Israel from Gaza, but they instead give a completely opposite assessment,” Netanyahu claimed in response to the IDF revelation. 

Netanyahu also claimed to have made "all the key decisions in the war."

The decision "to attack Hamas and keep Hezbollah at bay, not to have two fronts. I made in the beginning of the war," he stated. He also claimed to have taken the decision to attack the Hamas stronghold in Rafah "against the advice of some of these former officials."

Netanyahu said that he made the decision to eliminate Nasrallah, and to not warn the Americans ahead of time. He also noted that "the attack on Iran, something that I've been leading for the last 40 years, [was] basically decided six months earlier."

With the possibility of elections looming as a result of ultra-Orthodox parties leaving the coalition, the video could be an attempt to establish Netanyahu’s official narrative of the events surrounding Oct. 7 going into an election cycle, making sure that he has consistent messaging on an issue that will surely be a part of election campaigning by his political opponents.