Why wasn't Prime Minister Netanyahu woken on the night of the October 7 massacre?

In an interview with Kan News' "7 Questions in October" project, Eli Groner, former Director General of the Prime Minister's Office, argued that the question of why Netanyahu was not woken on the night of October 7 is not the central one, and that the main issue is the prevailing conception that Hamas does not want war. Groner referred the question of waking him in the late hours to the military secretary.

In a special interview with Kan News' "7 Questions in October" project, ahead of three years since the October 7 massacre, Eli Groner, former Director General of the Prime Minister's Office, addressed the question of why Prime Minister Netanyahu was not woken on the night of the attack. Groner argued that focusing on who called whom misses the main point: a years-long prevailing conception that Hamas does not want war and should be "maintained." According to him, Netanyahu goes to sleep late, so a call at 1 AM is not unusual, but waking him at 4-5 AM is a question for the military secretary. Groner emphasized that the defense establishment itself did not change its alertness despite its warnings, and that responsibility lies not only with Netanyahu but with the entire system. He linked the conception also to normalization talks with Saudi Arabia and the judicial reform crisis, which he said eroded the influence of defense chiefs on the prime minister.