Israel’s Netanyahu seems to backtrack on reported remark linking Hamas assault to reservist protest
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister appeared to backtarck on a remark he was reported to have made earlier about the necessity to verify if a pre-war protest amongst military reservists pushed Hamas to hold out its assault final month.
Israel’s Channel 12 and different information shops reported that Netanyahu stated there could also be a necessity to look at whether or not months of protests in opposition to his authorities, together with by reservists who stated they’d now not report for normal responsibility, added to Hamas’ motivation to hold out the Oct. 7 rampage by southern Israel that triggered the present warfare.
However after public backlash, Netanyahu posted on X that Hamas began a warfare “as a result of it needs to kill us all and never due to any argument inside us.”
“Hamas was incorrect – and due to this fact shall be eradicated. Solely collectively will we win,” Netanyahu stated.
Earlier, , who joined Netanyahu’s warfare cupboard from the opposition as a part of an emergency authorities, stated Netanyahu should retract his remark.
“Avoiding accountability and slinging mud on the time of warfare is a blow to the nation,” Gantz wrote on social media platform X.
On Saturday, protesters gathered outdoors Netanyahu’s residence, chanting “Jail Now!” in a public show of anger on the failures that led to final month’s lethal assault by Hamas gunmen on Israeli communities across the Gaza Strip.
The protest, which coincided with a ballot exhibiting greater than three quarters of Israelis consider Netanyahu ought to resign, underlined the rising public fury at their political and safety leaders.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Enhancing by Andrew Heavens)
