Netanyahu: They Should Have Woken Me on October 7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to his account of the night before Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack in his remarks in Channel 14.

He said senior defense officials had indicators Hamas might be preparing a strike but chose not to alert him, naming former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, former Shin Bet director Ronen Bar and former Military Intelligence chief Aharon Haliva.

Asked whether the attack would have happened had he been woken earlier, he said it would have looked "completely different," later adding: "You asked me what would have happened if they had woken me up - it would not have happened."

What Netanyahu Says He Would Have Done

Netanyahu said the chiefs knew his habits: he would have activated the air force, woken the entire IDF, and barred anyone from approaching the Gaza fence line, saying "we would kill them immediately."

He cited statements attributed to Bar in High Court material from their later legal dispute over Bar's dismissal, including instructions to maintain "covert medium readiness so as not to create a miscalculation."

In Netanyahu's telling, officials believed Hamas was deterred and feared a hard Israeli response would itself trigger conflict, so they did not call him.

The Documented Timeline

Reporting indicates unusual Hamas indicators appeared overnight but were read as possible exercises rather than an imminent invasion.

Around 5:15 a.m., Bar ordered that Netanyahu's military secretary be updated, though this was not treated as a war alert; the secretary, Maj. Gen. Avi Gil, was reached around 6:13 a.m.

An earlier IDF memo describing "warning signs" reached an officer in the prime minister's military secretariat hours before, but stated Hamas appeared to be operating normally and that discussion would occur in the morning.

Rejecting a Full Inquiry

Netanyahu again rejected calls for an independent state commission of inquiry, calling it "predetermined," and said he prefers a panel split evenly between coalition and opposition members.

He said wartime protocols will eventually "reveal the truth" and claimed State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman was "astonished" by related material.