Netanyahu tells TIME he is “deeply sorry” for Oct 7 but does not intend to step down as PM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced criticism for his unwillingness to take responsibility for the failure to prevent the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

On Oct. 7, the Hamas terrorist organization and Palestinian allies invaded southern Israel and brutally murdered Israeli soldiers and civilians – men, women and children of all ages – committed various atrocities and kidnapped at least 250 people, dead and alive, into the Gaza Strip. The horrific attack was unprovoked and took place on the joyous Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah.

In a new TIME Magazine interview, “Bibi at War,” a reference to Netanyahu's nickname, the prime minister expressed regrets about the Israeli security failures that led to the enormous Oct. 7 tragedy. However, he has reportedly no plans to step down.

“Of course, of course. I am sorry, deeply, that something like this happened,” Netanyahu stated. “You always look back, and you say, 'Could we have done things that would have prevented it?'”

Netanyahu previously stressed that a probe of the failures should only be conducted after the war. However, the prime minister already appeared to blame security officials for an inaccurate assessment that fateful Shabbat morning.

“Oct. 7 showed that those who said that Hamas was deterred were wrong,” Netanyahu said. “If anything, I didn’t challenge enough the assumption [of deterrence] that was common to all the security agencies.”

Prior to Oct. 7, 2023, Netanyahu was known as “Mr. Security.” During the TIME interview, he addressed the issue of why Israel did not seek to destroy Hamas already a decade ago during the 2014 Gaza war.

“There was no domestic support for such an action,” Netanyahu claimed without elaborating. “There was certainly no international support for such an action – and you need both,” he added.

Earlier in 2023, Israeli society was deeply divided concerning the Netanyahu government’s controversial judicial reform. Opponents warned that it threatened Israeli democracy while proponents argued that it strengthened the democracy. Many IDF reservists, including combat pilots, warned at the time that they would stop serving the State if the judicial reform was implemented.

Critics have argued that Netanyahu’s judicial reform undermined the country’s security. However, in the TIME interview, he shifted the blame to soldiers and pilots who protested the reform plan by threatening to stop serving in the military, potentially harming the IDF's readiness to defend itself in the event of an attack.

“The refusal to serve because of an internal political debate – I think that, if anything, that had an effect,” Netanyahu argued.

Critics have blasted Netanyahu’s policy of allowing Qatari funding to reach the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip thereby strengthening the Hamas' ability to arm and prepare for the Oct. 7 mass attack.

Netanyahu dismissed the criticism, claiming that the cash infusion was necessary in order to prevent Gaza from collapsing.

“We wanted to make sure that Gaza has a functioning civilian administration to avoid humanitarian collapse,” Netanyahu said, rejecting the argument that the funds enabled Hamas’ military buildup.

“The main issue was the transfer of weapons and ammunition from the Sinai into Gaza,” Netanyahu told TIME, and highlighting the border tunnel system that Hamas has used to smuggle weapons from Egypt into the Gaza Strip.

Turning to the current war, Netanyahu rejected widespread international criticism that Israeli military operations in Gaza constitute a “collective punishment.”

“We’ve gone out of our way to enable humanitarian assistance since the beginning of the war,” the Israeli leader emphasized in the interview. By early April, Israel had facilitated the inflow of 252,000 tons of food and 3.3 million cubic meters of water into Gaza.

Netanyahu placed Israel's current war against Hamas within the broader conflict with the Islamic Republic of Iran and its various terrorist proxies, which include Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen and other players in the region.

“We’re facing a full-fledged Iranian axis, and we understand that we have to organize ourselves for broader defense,” he stated.

Netanyahu has been criticized domestically and internationally for his previous unwillingness to discuss the future Gaza after the war. He told TIME that he envisioned the eventual emergence of a civilian and peaceful administration in Gaza.

“I’d like to see a civilian administration run by Gazans, perhaps with the support of regional partners,” Netanyahu said.

“Demilitarization by Israel, civilian administration by Gaza,” he added while dismissing the establishment of an Palestinian national state because of the security threat it poses for Israel.

In December, Netanyahu vowed that neither Hamas nor Fatah would rule Gaza after the war because of the two Palestinian parties' hostility toward the Jewish state.

Netanyahu has previously argued that the population in Gaza, Judea and Samaria – internationally known as the West Bank – should have all the civic powers to rule themselves but none of the powers to threaten Israel.