Speaking with Time Magazine, the PM was prompted to apologise for the failings that led to October 7 and discussed criticisms of his leadership
August 8, 2024 16:10
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apologised to the Israeli people for the October 7 attacks for the first time.
During a rare hour-long interview in Jerusalem with Time Magazine’s national political correspondent Eric Cortellessa, Netanyahu said, “I am sorry, deeply, that something like this happened,” referring to the massacre in which over 1,200 Israelis were murdered by Hamas terrorists and more than 250 were kidnapped to Gaza.
Netanyahu made the apology with some prompting from Cortellessa, who questioned why the heads of the IDF and Shin Bet had all issued apologies for the failures that allowed the atrocities of October 7 to occur, but the PM's only public apology since the attack was to military and security officials whom he initially blamed for it.
“I've said that following the end of the war, there'll be an independent commission that will examine everything that happened before, and everybody will have to answer some tough questions, including me,” Netanyahu said, according to the full transcript provided.
