Lapid: Netanyahu was Indifferent to Warnings before October 7

By Staff, Agencies

“Israeli” opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid testified Thursday to the so-called civilian commission of inquiry into the October 7 disaster, leveling serious allegations about warnings given to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before Al-Aqsa Flood operation.

Lapid also claimed that cabinet ministers were exposed to materials that indicated that Hamas was not deterred by “Israel”, despite reported assessments.

"I want to contradict here a statement that is repeatedly made by the current government, as if political leaders had not been updated about the fact that Hamas is no longer deterred as it was in the past,” Lapid said at the start of his testimony. “They were indeed updated. I was updated, and of course Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the cabinet ministers have also seen the intelligence materials I saw.”

Lapid further stated: “If Hezbollah believed they could fire thousands of missiles and rockets at ‘Israel’ and cause the evacuation of the northern settlements a year or two earlier – they would have done it. In every given moment, the perception of the political and, certainly the military-security echelons in ‘Israel’, was that Hamas and Hezbollah wanted to kill as many ‘Israelis’ as possible at the first opportunity they would have.”

Lapid added that these warning were given by intelligence services “time and time again”, saying there is a difference about knowing that the security fence would be breached on October 7 and knowing there was a threat looming.

Netanyahu, he said, knew that “Israel's” deterrence had weakened.

“He knew that Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Islamic Jihad smelled an opportunity in ‘Israel’s’ internal crisis,” Lapid said.

Netanyahu's Likud party slammed the "Yesh Atid" leader, saying Lapid was “lying again”.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu did not receive any warning about the war in Gaza - not a month before or even an hour before October 7,” a statement said. “The opposite is true, and the protocols