Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released to the public his responses to questions from the state comptroller as part of the comptroller’s review of the events of October 7, a review that was halted by a High Court decision. The full document, which runs 55 pages, was published, with three pages redacted.
In a video released alongside the document, Netanyahu wrote: “The meeting with the comptroller took place in my office on Dec. 25, 2025. For four consecutive hours, I answered the comptroller’s pointed questions and those of his team. On Dec. 31, 2025, just six days after that meeting, in highly unusual timing, the High Court suddenly issued an interim order and a conditional order and stopped the work of the state comptroller. I want to emphasize: for nearly two years, the comptroller worked with full freedom of action, without any interference from the legal system or anyone else.”
“But only six days after I submitted this response,” Netanyahu added, “the High Court decided to grant the attorney general’s request to immediately halt the comptroller’s work — work intended to uncover the truth. Is this a coincidence? I say something simple: you be the judges.” Netanyahu said that “some of the security-sensitive sections were redacted, and authorized officials will be able to review them — as well as all the binders of documents I am submitting to the Knesset’s intelligence subcommittee.” In the video, Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to establishing a state commission of inquiry.
Later in the evening, at a meeting of the security cabinet, Netanyahu read aloud quotations related to Gaza from Avigdor Lieberman and Naftali Bennett, from former heads of Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet including Nadav Argaman and Ronen Bar, and from Gadi Eisenkot, Aviv Kochavi, Benny Gantz and Herzi Halevi during their tenures as Israel Defense Forces chiefs of staff — apparently drawn from the opening section of his response to the comptroller. His bottom line was that all had opposed over the years the reoccupation of Gaza and the targeted killing of Hamas leaders.
Netanyahu also read documents from Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet from the days leading up to October 7 in which security officials allegedly argued that Hamas was deterred and that Israel should continue allowing Palestinian laborers to enter Israel.