The Democratic Party chairman Yair Golan is expected to send Sara Netanyahu and Channel 14 a warning ahead of a possible defamation lawsuit after the prime minister’s wife suggested that the former IDF deputy chief of staff had advance knowledge of the October 7 Hamas attack.
The dispute drew international attention after French news agency AFP reported on Netanyahu’s remarks under a headline saying the Israeli prime minister’s wife had attacked a political rival while spreading a conspiracy theory.
AFP noted that Netanyahu had implied that the head of an opposition party knew about the planned October 7 attack, just weeks before what are expected to be closely contested Knesset elections.
In an interview broadcast Monday on Channel 14, Netanyahu targeted Golan, a retired major general who leads the left-wing Democrats party and opposes her husband’s governing coalition.
“You claim that you were a fighter on October 7. Early in the morning, you were already there, dressed and ready,” Netanyahu said. “At a very early hour, when others knew nothing, including the prime minister.”
After referring to Golan, Netanyahu added sarcastically: “After all, who is the prime minister that he needs to know a war is breaking out? Why inform him?”
Asked about the so-called “betrayal theory,” Netanyahu said she did not want to discuss it and expressed opposition to a state commission of inquiry.
“I don’t want to talk. I don’t know. Let there be a real commission of inquiry,” she said.
The Democratic Party chairman Yair Golan
(Photo: Shalev Shalom)
AFP wrote that the allegations echoed conspiracy theories that have repeatedly circulated among parts of Israel’s political establishment.
Golan is now expected to send both Netanyahu and Channel 14 a formal pre-litigation notice alleging defamation.
Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar party, also condemned Netanyahu’s remarks Tuesday morning.
“There are those who tell us that ‘they weren’t woken up,’ and there are those who got up and charged forward without asking questions,” Eisenkot wrote on X.
“The insane betrayal conspiracy, which has no factual basis whatsoever, is intended only to inflame hatred and perpetuate Netanyahu’s rule, whose only way of governing is division,” he added.