Netanyahu Says Officials Feared 'Annoying Hamas' by Waking Him Before Oct. 7, Later Denies Alleging 'Betrayal'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, September 1, 2026 that senior IDF and defense officials 'deliberately chose not to wake him' in the hours before the October 7, 2023 attack because 'they knew that, as prime minister of Israel, I would have immediately given the order to put the entire military on alert' — adding 'I would have woken up all the communities, woken up all the security coordinators and told the air force to be ready to strike' anyone approaching the Gaza fence. Later that evening, after the remarks drew accusations that he was alleging betrayal by security chiefs, Netanyahu released a video clarifying: 'They have asked me several times, do I think there was a betrayal, and I said no, I don't think there was a betrayal, I think there was a failure, a great failure,' saying officials held off waking him 'because of a fear of a miscalculation, so as not to annoy Hamas.' Netanyahu's office has previously acknowledged his intelligence officer received an IDF memo about suspicious Hamas activity roughly three hours before the attack but did not pass it to the prime minister. Then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar stated in an April 2025 affidavit that at 3:03 a.m. on October 7 all security agencies were alerted to 'unusual preparations and the possibility of offensive intentions by Hamas,' and that at 5:15 a.m. he 'instructed that the Prime Minister's military secretary be updated.' Israeli media described the statements as a deliberate effort by the Netanyahu family to reframe the October 7 failure narrative ahead of the October 27, 2026 election, with a Likud source reportedly telling Channel 12 there is 'a decision by the family to spread conspiracy theories in the time leading up to the election to distance Netanyahu from the massacre at any cost.'