Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett sharply criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday evening over the response document Netanyahu submitted to the State Comptroller, in which he presented his version of events surrounding the failure that led to the October 7 massacre.
“The hero of the movie Forrest Gump is present at major moments in history, but he is always a passive observer - someone who stumbles into events by accident and is not truly connected to them," Bennett charged. “The quotations document Netanyahu published portrays Benjamin Netanyahu as the Israeli Forrest Gump. He is supposed to be the Prime Minister, yet according to his own account he is a weak, helpless, pitiful figure who just happened to be there, almost unrelated to what occurred."
“He is not a leader, but someone who is led. He is not a commander, but a subordinate. Chiefs of Staff, heads of the Mossad, and Shin Bet directors over the generations supposedly control this incapable man - who is meant to be running the country. Netanyahu came to praise himself in this document, but ended up condemning himself. The document he drafted and published is the most severe indictment imaginable against a Prime Minister of Israel."
“Here and there, the man mumbles some statement for the record about maybe needing to strike or maybe needing to eliminate, but he never follows through. He does not impose direction on the IDF, he does not shape or implement an activist policy. In the 56 pages of this document, you see a weak man who allows the Hezbollah monster to grow before his eyes in the north, and the Hamas monster to grow in the south to enormous proportions - and he does nothing."
“Netanyahu has criticism of the defense establishment; I do as well. But when I served as a Cabinet minister during Operation Protective Edge, and when I identified that the army was not being aggressive enough, I acted. I pushed, I applied pressure, I did not look for a political alibi - I changed reality on the ground. For 20 consecutive days, I challenged and pushed the system, and as a result the IDF moved to an offensive posture, operated inside the Gaza Strip, and actually destroyed 30 deadly cross-border tunnels. Everything is documented in the State Comptroller’s investigative report on Operation Protective Edge."
“Look, Netanyahu was not a Cabinet minister. He was the Prime Minister of Israel and the supreme commander of the State of Israel for 12.5 of the 14 years preceding the greatest disaster in Israel’s history. Yet Netanyahu did nothing other than build walls, fences, and concrete barriers. He became addicted to containment. He became addicted to transferring suitcases of cash to Sinwar in exchange for temporary quiet - that is called protection money."
“Netanyahu eroded deterrence and did not prepare the IDF for the day of reckoning. His three most senior advisers received salaries from the Qatari enemy during the war, and he claims he knew nothing. Everyone is attacking Netanyahu’s excuses document as selective and dishonest - and they are right. But I actually suggest that all of you read it. Look at your children and read the document. Because what emerges from it is that Netanyahu did not lead, did not manage, and did not govern. And above all, it proves that after 30 years of Netanyahu, it is imperative to part ways with him with dignity. This nation deserves a strong leader - a true national leader."