Ex-aide says Netanyahu tasked him with making a plan to evade responsibility for Oct. 7 attack

Former Netanyahu Aide Claims PM Sought to Evade Responsibility After Hamas Attack

A former close aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has alleged that immediately following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, Netanyahu instructed him to develop a strategy to shield the premier from accountability for the security failure.

Eli Feldstein, who previously served as Netanyahu’s spokesperson, made these explosive claims during an extensive interview with Israel’s Kan news channel on Monday. Feldstein, currently facing legal troubles of his own, described being tasked with managing the public perception crisis as Israeli citizens were still reeling from the deadliest attack in the nation’s history.

“The first task I received from Netanyahu after October 7 was to stifle calls for accountability,” Feldstein told Kan. “He asked me, ‘What are they talking about in the news? Are they still talking about responsibility?'”

According to Feldstein, the prime minister appeared visibly “panicked” when making this request, instructing him to “think of something that could be said that would offset the media storm surrounding the question of whether the prime minister had taken responsibility or not.” Feldstein further claimed that Netanyahu’s inner circle later directed him to completely remove the word “responsibility” from all official statements.

The allegations come at a politically sensitive time for Netanyahu, who has consistently resisted calls for an independent state inquiry into the security failures that preceded the Hamas attack. Critics have long accused the prime minister of deflecting blame for what many Israelis view as a catastrophic intelligence and military failure that allowed Hamas militants to breach Israel’s border defenses.

Netanyahu’s office swiftly rejected Feldstein’s claims, describing them as “a long series of mendacious and recycled allegations made by a man with clear personal interests who is trying to deflect responsibility from himself,” according to Hebrew media reports.

The October 7 attack, which claimed approximately 1,200 Israeli lives and resulted in 251 hostages being taken to Gaza, triggered Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the Palestinian territory. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the subsequent conflict has resulted in nearly 71,000 Palestinian deaths, with approximately half being women and children, though these figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Feldstein’s credibility has been called into question as he faces serious legal challenges. He was recently indicted for allegedly leaking classified military information to a German tabloid in what prosecutors describe as an effort to improve public perception of Netanyahu following the killing of six Israeli hostages in Gaza in August 2023.

Additionally, Feldstein is implicated in what has been dubbed the “Qatargate” scandal, where he and another close Netanyahu aide are accused of accepting funds from Qatar while simultaneously working for the Israeli prime minister—raising significant conflict of interest concerns.

The timing of these allegations highlights the ongoing political tensions in Israel surrounding accountability for the October 7 attack. While Netanyahu has maintained public support from his base throughout the conflict, polls indicate growing dissatisfaction with his leadership among the broader Israeli public, particularly regarding his handling of hostage negotiations and war strategy.

Security analysts note that the culture of accountability within Israeli leadership has become a contentious issue, with families of victims and hostages repeatedly calling for transparency regarding the intelligence and operational failures that preceded the Hamas attack. Netanyahu’s government has thus far focused primarily on military objectives rather than internal investigations, maintaining that such inquiries should wait until after the conclusion of hostilities.