Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot said Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office was receiving intelligence on unusual activity in Gaza about three hours before Hamas launched its October 7 attack on southern Israel.
Speaking at the “Decision Time: Democracy and Society” conference hosted by ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth in partnership with the Israel Democracy Institute, Eisenkot said the information available to the IDF chief of staff and Shin Bet director was also being passed to Netanyahu’s office.
Asked whether the prime minister’s intelligence adviser knew about unusual activity in Gaza roughly three hours before the attack began, Eisenkot replied: “Absolutely. I say this from knowledge. His office receives the intelligence details that accumulate as soon as they are before the chief of staff and the head of the Shin Bet.”
Eisenkot argued that Netanyahu should focus on why such information apparently did not reach him personally.
“He needs to ask how he built an environment that does not update him on important pieces of information, and he can blame himself for why they did not update him,” Eisenkot said.
The Yashar! party chairman also criticized what he described as conspiracy theories promoted by Netanyahu’s political circle over the failures surrounding October 7.
“Netanyahu’s environment nurtures the conspiracy theory in order to explain how the greatest failure since the establishment of the state happened,” Eisenkot said.
He referred to Netanyahu’s comments a day earlier that the events reflected “not betrayal, but failure.”
“It is much more than a failure. It is profound negligence that happened on his watch, and he thinks he will be able to manipulate the way Israeli citizens think,” Eisenkot said.
Eisenkot said Netanyahu’s office began receiving information during the night as intelligence concerning Gaza accumulated.
“I know that from 3:30 in the morning his office, his intelligence aide, receives the report and the picture that was in the hands of the chief of staff and the head of the Shin Bet,” he said.
Netanyahu’s criticism of Eisenkot
Eisenkot also responded to Netanyahu’s recent statement on Channel 14 that if Eisenkot were elected, it would mark “the beginning of the end of the State of Israel.”
Gadi Eisenkot and Naftali Bennett during the conference
“That is a hysterical and irresponsible statement,” Eisenkot said. “He knows as well as I do what kind of strength has been built here over 80 years. Israel is very strong, the IDF is very strong, and the question is what we will do to strengthen Israeli society.”
He said years of political division had damaged social cohesion and mutual responsibility, adding that Netanyahu’s remark was “inappropriate.”
The 2018 F-16 incident
Eisenkot also recounted an incident from 2018, when he was serving as IDF chief of staff and an Israeli F-16 was hit by Syrian anti-aircraft fire.
According to Eisenkot, he was unable to reach Netanyahu for roughly one to two hours as the military prepared a broad response against Syrian air defenses and Iranian targets in Syria.
“I asked to update and consult with the prime minister. I could not reach him for an hour or two, and I made the decision to carry out a very broad strike,” Eisenkot said.
He said Netanyahu later arrived at the Air Force command center after several hours and backed the military action, though he subsequently stopped plans for additional strikes.
Call for opposition parties to act
Eisenkot also addressed the approaching election and the possibility of joining forces with Naftali Bennett’s party.
“There is a leadership decision here and a desire to show Israeli citizens a large party that knows how to win and knows how to govern,” he said.
Asked whether Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz should withdraw from the race, Eisenkot stopped short of naming him directly but urged parties hovering near the electoral threshold to act responsibly.
“I call on all the parties around the electoral threshold to show responsibility,” he said. “We will not forgive ourselves if what happened in previous elections happens again because of political games.”