Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has manipulated his official account of security briefings and warnings received prior to the October 2023 attack, altering key context and omitting vital records to rewrite his pre-war posture, according to an extensive investigation published.
The investigation, conducted by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily and its sister outlet Ynet, compared a 55-page dossier released by Netanyahu in February with original government transcripts, meeting minutes, and official testimonies.
The review uncovered systematic deletions and altered phraseology, particularly concerning urgent warnings delivered by intelligence officials in the months preceding the cross-border assault.
Netanyahu's February document depicted the prime minister as persistently advocating targeted killings of senior Hamas commanders, portraying military and intelligence chiefs as reluctant figures who favoured maintaining quiet in Gaza.
However, original records demonstrate that Netanyahu consistently rebuffed proposed military initiatives, insisting that Hamas remained deterred.
In April 2023, then-Shin Bet director Ronen Bar and then-military chief of staff Herzi Halevi formally recommended conducting targeted strikes against Hamas leaders in Gaza.
A month later, Bar warned that full-scale military conflict in the enclave was inevitable, urging preparations for a pre-emptive opening strike.
Netanyahu rejected the plans, claiming a "strong deterrence balance" was in place.
The newspaper highlighted further ignored briefings, including an August 2023 alert from Bar warning that Israel's deterrence was actively eroding and advising immediate pre-emptive options.
On September 10—less than a month before the attack—Bar warned that the country faced a "serious security situation" with an imminent risk of multiple battlefronts converging simultaneously.
In response, Netanyahu instructed security officials to keep the autumn Jewish holiday period "as quiet as possible".
The investigation also found that Netanyahu's published dossier cited an assessment that Hamas was arming at a "moderate pace", while deliberately redacting the intelligence community's accompanying recommendation to strike immediately, even at the risk of wider escalation.
