Netanyahu completely rewrote the decisions of October 7 - assessment

Journalists Ronen Bergman and Yuval Rubovitz examined a 55-page document published by Netanyahu in February 2026. They found that the prime minister omitted fragments contradicting his version, and that maintaining calm in Gaza was a goal of the political leadership, not the military.

Journalists Ronen Bergman and Yuval Rubovitz examined a 55-page document published by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February 2026 in response to questions from the state comptroller. They compared the prime minister's quotes with intelligence data, meeting protocols, and internal reports, finding that Netanyahu often omitted fragments that contradicted his version of events. Contrary to Netanyahu's claims, documents from 2014, 2019, 2020, and 2023 confirm that maintaining calm in the Gaza Strip and preventing escalation were goals of the political leadership. Directives from 2020 set the task of keeping Hamas militants in power in Gaza as an effective but deterred force. Netanyahu blames military intelligence and Shin Bet for misjudging Hamas's restraint, though in spring 2023 he publicly presented it as an achievement of his policy. Separately, the journalists examined Netanyahu's claims that he did not know about the 'Jericho Wall' plan and found that as early as April 2018, military intelligence prepared a document describing an attack scenario, and in November 2022, Netanyahu received meeting documents where this plan was mentioned. Bergman and Rubovitz claim that Netanyahu repeatedly postponed proposals to eliminate Hamas leaders, fearing a new war.