Newsletters
Former Israeli military intelligence officer Barak Seri said Saturday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is personally blocking a state Oct. 7 inquiry because he was warned before the Hamas attack but "ignored it all."
Seri's post on X came as new reports by The Atlantic, The New York Times and Israeli newspaper Haaretz detailed warnings Netanyahu allegedly received before Oct. 7, 2023.
Seri's claims add to mounting reports that Netanyahu was warned by foreign leaders and did not share the alerts with Israel's security chiefs.
"Here is the reason why Netanyahu is doing everything to prevent a state commission of inquiry, here is the reason why he is personally blocking the establishment of a commission of inquiry, with every possible excuse, with every manipulation, with every lie," Seri wrote.
"And despite this, the testimonies are starting to come out in their full severity, in publications all over the world. They warned him, they alerted him, but he ignored it all. He was smug, complacent, arrogant," he said.
Seri pointed to The Atlantic's report that Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel visited Israel 11 days before the attack.
"According to tonight's investigation by the American magazine The Atlantic, the head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel, arrived in Israel secretly on September 26, 2023, 11 days before the Oct. 7 massacre and conveyed a warning to Israeli officials that Hamas was preparing for a significant attack," Seri wrote.
"According to the magazine, Egypt continued to convey intelligence messages until two days before the attack," the former Israeli intelligence officer said.
He also cited The New York Times' (NYT) report on a warning from UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed.
"Further: the most important newspaper in the world, The New York Times, published an investigation yesterday according to which the president of the Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed, warned Netanyahu in September 2023 of an attack, a real 'earthquake' by Hamas. It also emerges that Netanyahu did not mention this warning at a security meeting held on 1/10, six days before the massacre," Seri wrote.
"And this investigation, of course, joins the publication by Shlomi Eldar and Ruti Yuval on bin Zayed's warning of a major Hamas attack, Netanyahu's disregard and failure to report to the heads of all the security systems," he added.
"1,200 people were murdered and slaughtered that day, 251 people were abducted to Gaza, some of them were murdered there, tens of thousands were wounded, communities were captured, destroyed," Seri wrote.
"And now the facts are becoming clear: days before the disaster, all the red searchlights were lit in front of Netanyahu, in Israel and abroad. He did nothing," he said.
Israel's subsequent offensive in Gaza has killed nearly 74,000 people and injured around 175,000, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
