Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday participated in a closed-door briefing of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

According to an Arutz Sheva report, during the discussion, Netanyahu revealed that on the morning of October 7, 2023, at 5:15 a.m., the Shin Bet issued an official document summarizing all of the warnings received overnight from the Gaza Strip. He said the document reached his office only at 9:47 a.m., over four hours after its initial distribution.

Netanyahu added that the original document included no instruction to update the prime minister, but that a more recent version submitted later suddenly contained such a directive. He said that the Shin Bet allegedly forged the document, retroactively adding the directive. The document bears the signature of former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

Netanyahu added that he forwarded the findings to State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman as part of the investigations into the October 7 failures and said that Englman was stunned by the information. Members of the Foreign Affairs committee also reacted with shock to the revelation.

Netanyahu added that he thinks that it’s not a “coincidence” that after Englman obtained some of the classified material, a petition was filed to the Supreme Court demanding that Englman be barred from continuing his investigation into the October 7 failures.

Englman’s investigation into the October 7 massacre was suspended by the Supreme Court, a move that experts say places Israelis’ lives at risk. The suspension was based on the opinion of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who accepted the arguments of two petitions against the probe, one submitted by the corrupt leftist Movement for Quality Government and the other on behalf of the Military Defense Counsel, which seeks to “protect the rights of officers.” During Bar’s tenure, Baharav-Miara worked in cahoots with him and fiercely opposed his dismissal.

The first part of the session turned into a direct confrontation with opposition members as Netanyahu read minutes from past cabinet meetings, quoting Naftali Bennett, Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot, Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon, former Shin Bet head Nadav Argaman, and other senior defense officials—saying that none of them foresaw or considered the possibility of a catastrophe like October 7.

Netanyahu said Bennett had repeatedly opposed large-scale military action in Gaza. “Bennett always opposed occupying Gaza,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying as he read from the minutes. He added, “The Israeli public deserves to know these protocols.”

Channel 14 reported that Netanyahu also cited a Shin Bet assessment submitted by Ronen Bar three days before October 7, which stated: “Calm has returned to the fence.”

When asked about rumors of “treason,” Netanyahu said, “There was a grave intelligence failure, but no treason.”

The revelations reportedly surprised even coalition members. One committee participant told Channel 14: “We were stunned. The same people who tried to undermine him for years are now the ones attacking him.”

Opposition members left the meeting in anger, complaining they were not allowed to ask questions. “Is this why we came—to hear Bibi read transcripts criticizing Bennett, Eisenkot, and Gantz?” one said.

Yisrael Beiteinu MK Sharon Nir criticized Netanyahu’s remarks but faced harsh responses from coalition lawmakers. Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana said he was not surprised, noting he had already heard the same details in the intelligence subcommittee.

MK Boaz Bismuth also disputed Nir’s comments, saying she had attended the same briefings and was familiar with the material.

Ohana added that about two and a half months before the attack, a subcommittee meeting with the IDF Chief of Staff and the head of Military Intelligence’s research division had focused solely on Hezbollah and Iran.

“I asked whether there was any concern about Gaza,” Ohana recalled. “The Chief of Staff told me, ‘No, there’s no problem.’”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)