Israel-Gaza war: Netanyahu apologises after blaming security officials, Army intel for Hamas attack, says ‘was wrong’

livemint.com:

Netanyahu Sunday retracted and apologized for a post on platform X (formerly known as Twitter), in which he took a jab at his intelligence chiefs saying they never warned him that Hamas was planning its wide-scale attack on October 7, 2023, reported Reuters. "At no time and no stage was a warning given to Prime Minister Netanyahu regarding war intentions of Hamas. On the contrary, all security officials, including the head of army intelligence and the head of the Shin Bet, estimated that Hamas was deterred and interested in an arrangement," Netanyahu had said in his post on X, (around 2300 GMT on Saturday).

But he deleted the post. About 10 hours Netanyahu later wrote: "I was wrong," adding that his remarks "should not have been made and I apologize for that." "I give full backing to all the heads of the security branches," he added. His post caused a political uproar and a rift within his war cabinet.

His comments were promptly rebuked by current and past allies, including Benny Gantz, a former defense minister who is now in Netanyahu's war cabinet, the report said. Gantz said Netanyahu should retract what he said and let the matter go. "When we are at war, leadership must show responsibility, decide to do the right things and bolster the forces in a way that they can carry out what we demand of them," he added.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said Netanyahu "crossed a red line" with the overnight post. "The attempts to evade responsibility and place the blame on the security establishment weakens the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) while it's fighting Israel's enemies," Reuters quoted him as saying. Yossi Cohen, who was Mossad, Israeli spy agency, Chief under previous Netanyahu governments, told Israel Radio: "You