Netanyahu on the Egyptian plane: "Whoever met with him is trying to pin it on me"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied in an interview with "HaPatriyotim" that he met with a senior Egyptian intelligence official who visited Israel before October 7, 2023. Netanyahu claimed that at the time he was attending a memorial ceremony for fallen IDF soldiers, and demanded that documentation from the visit be released so it can be known who met with the Egyptian official.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed this evening (Tuesday) in a special interview with Yinon Magal on the program "HaPatriyotim" on Channel 14 the claims regarding the visit of a senior Egyptian intelligence official to Israel before Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023. Netanyahu denied that he met with the Egyptian official, and claimed that whoever held the meeting with him is trying to place the responsibility on him. According to him, during the visit he was attending a memorial ceremony for fallen IDF soldiers, and therefore the claim that he met with him is "a lie from the outset." Netanyahu added that the very claim that a foreign intelligence chief met with a prime minister does not square with accepted procedures. He further clarified that the central question from his perspective is who the Israeli officials were who held meetings with the Egyptian senior official, and demanded that documentation from the visit be released: "There are cameras, there is documentation, I want to know the truth." He concluded his remarks with a sharp accusation: "Whoever met with him is trying to pin it on me."