Channel 12 News political commentator Amit Segal sharply criticized the account given by Avi Gil, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's former military secretary, concerning intelligence warnings received before the October 7 Hamas attack.
Segal pointed to an apparent contradiction between Gil's claims and what he told Netanyahu on the morning of the attack, according to transcripts published by Channel 12's “Uvda" investigative program.
At the outset, Segal stressed that he barely knew Gil personally and that his criticism was directed solely at the substance of his testimony.
"Full disclosure: I've exchanged no more than a few sentences with Avi Gil in my life. I'm evaluating the testimony based on its content, not on who is giving it," Segal said.
Segal focused on a conversation that took place at 6:44 a.m. on October 7, approximately 15 minutes after the Hamas attack began. According to the transcripts published by “Uvda", Netanyahu asked during that conversation whether there had been any advance intelligence indicating that an attack was imminent.
"Avi Gil's argument, essentially, is that Netanyahu knew. He knew it was coming. But at 6:44, according to the transcripts published by Uvda, Netanyahu says, 'Tell me, was there anything about this in the intelligence?' That's already 15 minutes after the attack began, when it's clear to everyone that something is happening," Segal said.
According to Segal, Gil's response during that conversation raises questions about the account he subsequently presented. He noted that Gil did not mention any previous warnings to the prime minister, despite claiming that such warnings had been conveyed in the months leading up to the attack.
"And then Avi Gil doesn't tell him, 'Yes, I already told you in July, and I told you again in August, and I warned you in September.' Instead, he tells him, in black and white, as documented by Uvda: 'No, there's nothing in the intelligence material,'" Segal said.
Segal argued that this response was inconsistent with the claim that Netanyahu had received an advance strategic warning about the attack.
"You can't claim, on the one hand, that there was a strategic warning, and then turn around and say at 6:44 that we actually had nothing. Because that was when he revealed what he really thought," he said.
Despite his criticism of Gil, Segal emphasized that responsibility for the October 7 failure does not rest with any single individual. He said the Prime Minister stands at the top of the chain of responsibility, but that the IDF Chief of Staff, the head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and other senior security officials, including Gil himself, also bear responsibility.
"This applies not only to Avi Gil, against whom, as I said, I have nothing personal. I don't know him, and I'm sure he was a brave officer," Segal added.
Segal concluded with an analogy intended to illustrate what he viewed as the contradiction between the warnings Gil described and his actions at the time.
"You can't say, 'A perfect storm is coming,' and then go outside without an umbrella. Those two things don't go together."