News - Israeli PM deletes controversial post from social media, apologizes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deleted a post, which had been published in the middle of the night, in the morning of October 29, criticizing the heads of the security services. According to the Prime Minister, they did not warn him about Hamas preparing for war. The post disappeared after a wave of indignation in both the opposition and the coalition, Vesti Israel reports. After midnight, Netanyahu published a statement on Twitter and a telegram channel, accusing Shin Bet head Ronen Bara and AMAN military intelligence chief Aharon Haliva of lying. “Contrary to the false allegations, at no stage did the head of government receive any warning about Hamas’s intentions to start a war,” the prime minister’s statement said. “All sources, including the heads of AMAN and Shin Bet, said that Hamas does not want war and is committed to a settlement,” Netanyahu continued. “This professional opinion was presented time after time to the head of government and the cabinet by the security and intelligence services until the very beginning of the war.” Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid and National Security Minister and far-right leader Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized Netanyahu's post. Netanyahu later apologized for his words to the heads of Shin Bet and AMAN: “I was wrong. What I said after the press conference should not have been said, and I apologize for that. I fully support all heads of security services,” he noted, Cursorinfo writes.