Ex-Netanyahu Aide Says 1st Post-Oct 7 Tasking From 'Panicked' PM Was Helping Him Dodge Responsibility

A former top aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that, in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas invasion on Israel, the first assignment he received from a "panicked" prime minister was figuring out how he could avoid being held responsible for an attack that was as humiliating for Netanyahu as it was devastating for the country. He also said Netanyahu was personally involved in orchestrating the leak of classified information to foreign media in a bid to dodge criticism over a failure to reach a ceasefire agreement. Eli Feldstein says Prime Minister Netanyahu was part of a scheme to leak classified information to foreign media to bolster his standing Netanyahu recently hosted Sen. Lindsey Graham in Israel Eli Feldstein says Prime Minister Netanyahu was part of a scheme to leak classified information to foreign media to bolster his standing The accusations from former Netanyahu spokesman Eli Feldstein came in an extensive interview with Israel's Kan news network that aired Monday and Tuesday nights. While there were many communication needs in the wake of mass bloodshed that brought 1,200 deaths and saw hundreds taken captive, Feldstein said Netanyahu's first priority was avoiding blame. Describing Netanyahu as appearing "panicked" at the time, Feldstein told Kan : “He asked me, ‘What are they talking about in the news? Are they still talking about responsibility? He wanted me to think of something that could be said that would offset the media storm surrounding the question of whether the prime minister had taken responsibility or not... The first and biggest task that I had after October 7 was erasing the concept of [Netanyahu’s] responsibility from the public discourse.” Further hammering the point, Feldstein said that close Netanyahu associates even advised Feldstein to ensure the word "responsibility" never appeared in statements that he was preparing. “They told me to take the word 'responsibility' out of the lexicon and formulate something without the word 'responsibility' ... it won’t go in,” he said. His account is certain to strike a nerve in Israel, where Netanyahu has faced steady criticism for accepting responsibility for the massive security failure that took place under his government's watch -- and has also been accused of extending the war in Gaza so as to forestall a comprehensive, post-war inquiry , even if extending the war meant keeping hostages lives in peril. Responding to the broadcast, the prime minister's office was dismissive of what it called a "long series of mendacious and recycled allegations made by a man with clear personal interests who is trying to deflect responsibility from himself." Feldstein has been charged with leaking classified information to the media in a bid to shield Netanyahu from criticism at a time when Gaza ceasefire negotiations had come to a halt. In his Kan interview, Feldstein said Netanyahu was very much a part of that scheme: “In order to [publicize] such a document, the prime minister must be in the picture - from beginning to end.. He is the one who...

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