Ex-Netanyahu Aide Says 1st Post-Oct 7 Tasking From 'Panicked' PM Was Helping Him Dodge Responsibility
A former top aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that, in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas invasion on Israel, the first assignment he received from a "panicked" prime minister was figuring out how he could avoid being held responsible for an attack that was as humiliating for Netanyahu as it was devastating for the country. He also said Netanyahu was personally involved in orchestrating the leak of classified information to foreign media in a bid to dodge criticism over a failure to reach a ceasefire agreement.
The accusations from former Netanyahu spokesman Eli Feldstein came in an extensive interview with Israel's Kan news network that aired Monday and Tuesday nights. While there were many communication needs in the wake of mass bloodshed that brought 1,200 deaths and saw hundreds taken captive, Feldstein said Netanyahu's first priority was avoiding blame. Describing Netanyahu as appearing "panicked" at the time, Feldstein told Kan:
Further hammering the point, Feldstein said that close Netanyahu associates even advised Feldstein to ensure the word "responsibility" never appeared in statements that he was preparing. “They told me to take the word 'responsibility' out of the lexicon and formulate something without the word 'responsibility' ... it won’t go in,” he said.
His account is certain to strike a nerve in Israel, where Netanyahu has faced steady criticism for accepting responsibility for the massive security failure that took place under his government's watch -- and has also been accused of extending the war in Gaza so as to forestall a comprehensive, post-war inquiry, even if extending the war meant keeping hostages lives in peril.
Responding to the broadcast, the prime minister's office was dismissive of what it called a "long series of mendacious and recycled allegations made by a man with clear personal interests who is trying to deflect responsibility from himself." Feldstein has been charged with leaking classified information to the media in a bid to shield Netanyahu from criticism at a time when Gaza ceasefire negotiations had come to a halt.
In his Kan interview, Feldstein said Netanyahu was very much a part of that scheme: “In order to [publicize] such a document, the prime minister must be in the picture – from beginning to end..He is the one who ultimately was behind the leak.” He said Netanyahu is lying when he denies his own involvement.
Netanyahu recently hosted Sen. Lindsey Graham in Israel
Feldstein, who'd previously worked for far-right Netanyahu coalition member and current national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, was accused of planting bogus narratives that Hamas was scheming to smuggle Israeli hostages into Egypt, and that Hamas was prolonging negotiations in a form of psychological warfare on the Israeli people. At least one of the outlets that relied on Feldstein's leaks -- the Jewish Chronicle of London -- went on to withdraw their report, with prominent columnists resigning over the scandal. Feldstein has also been accused of accepting money from Qatar as part of a foreign influence operation.
The leaked document was an internal Hamas communication that was supposed to reveal the group was insincere in reaching a compromise that would bring about a ceasefire. However, one of the recipients of the document, the German tabloid Bild, reportedly distorted the document's content for the benefit of Netanyahu. In Tuesday's second installment of the interview, Feldstein said that, after the misleading Bild story ran, Netanyahu adviser Jonathan Urich texted him and said, "The boss is thrilled."
Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/25/2025 - 18:45
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