Sara Netanyahu Suggests Opposition Leader Golan Had Advance Knowledge of Oct. 7; Golan Warns of $825,000 Defamation Suit

During a Channel 14 interview on Monday, August 31, 2026, Prime Minister Netanyahu's wife Sara Netanyahu insinuated without evidence that Democrats party leader Yair Golan — a retired IDF major general, former deputy chief of staff, and Netanyahu's chief election rival for the October 27, 2026 vote — had advance knowledge of the October 7, 2023 attack, citing his early arrival at the Nova festival massacre site: 'When you're a military man of such high rank, claiming that you fought on October 7, already early in the morning you were there, already dressed and ready at a very, very early hour.' Golan drove to the Nova site around 8 a.m. on October 7 — roughly 90 minutes after the attack began — and rescued multiple people. On September 1, 2026, Golan sent Sara Netanyahu a formal legal warning threatening a NIS 2.5 million ($825,000) defamation suit unless she retracted the claim, apologized, and made a substantial donation to Nova festival survivors, writing on X that 'Sara Netanyahu spread a false conspiracy in an attempt to rewrite October 7, turning those who went out to save lives into traitors.' Sara Netanyahu refused to apologize and issued her own legal warning demanding NIS 100,000 in compensation and a retraction, threatening to countersue Golan for NIS 1 million, with a spokesperson saying she 'never spread conspiracy theories, but spoke only about solid facts that are undisputed in Israel.'