Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was interviewed Saturday night on Channel 12 News, where he addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims regarding October 7 and the events leading up to it, as presented in documents submitted by the Prime Minister to the State Comptroller.
“There is a consciousness-engineering effort here. They take fragments of discussions and sentences from long periods of time, put them together, and turn them into a story. I respect the office of the Prime Minister. I never thought I would have to come to the studio and say: our Prime Minister is a liar. The Prime Minister is lying."
“I want to explain what a lie is. Yesterday, I heard the Prime Minister say on the news, ‘At least 10 times I opposed the positions of the defense establishment.’ He gave three examples. The first was the reserve mobilization on October 7. On October 7 at 9:00 a.m., I finished a situation assessment with the IDF. Netanyahu had not yet arrived at the Kirya."
“There, I said three things: first, ‘We are at war’; second, ‘Mobilize everyone - regular and reserve’; and third, ‘Ensure deployment both to the north and to the south.’ I went out to the public and gave an explanation. When I finished - because I understood the public was waiting for something - the Prime Minister still had not arrived at the Kirya. In the discussions, he says, ‘I made decisions at 8 or 9 in the morning.’ He wasn’t there."
“There was one thing that, for me, crossed the red line. And by the way, it wasn’t the fact that I stood before the public, made my statement, and was fired for it - and later reinstated. That is not what broke my trust. What broke my trust was when I saw that while the IDF was being led by the Chief of Staff with great courage despite the massive failure of October 7, and while the Shin Bet was being led by its director despite the failure..."
“While they were on the front lines, Netanyahu was stabbing them in the back, inciting all the government ministers against them, and leaking everything to the media. That does not meet my standards, no matter what happens to me in the future. I have a hierarchy of priorities: the State of Israel, the defense establishment, the IDF and all the agencies, and only after that Yoav Gallant. Netanyahu’s hierarchy of priorities is first Netanyahu, then the coalition that keeps him in power, and only after that the state."
Associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Gallant’s remarks, saying: “Following Gallant’s lies - even on the issue of eliminating Nasrallah, the entry into Rafah, and additional operations - it will become clear who conditioned actions on prior notification to the Americans, and who, namely the Prime Minister, did not hesitate and issued directives to carry them out."