{"id":106864,"date":"2026-05-10T15:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T15:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/106864\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T15:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T15:54:10","slug":"zohar-hamas-plotted-october-7-attacks-during-bennett-lapid-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/106864\/","title":{"rendered":"Zohar: Hamas plotted October 7 attacks during Bennett-Lapid government"},"content":{"rendered":"

Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar (Likud) said on Sunday that Hamas plotted the October 7<\/a> massacre in 2023 during the government term led by former prime ministers Naftali Bennet and Yair Lapid in 2022.<\/p>\n

The remarks came even though the attacks took place while the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> was already in power at the time of the attacks in 2023.<\/p>\n

There still has not been an investigation into the government\u2019s role in the attacks over two and a half years on.<\/p>\n

Zohar criticized that the government led by Bennett<\/a> and Lapid was the first time an Arab party had been part of Israel\u2019s coalition, attributing the attacks partially to that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow does the extremist Islamic mind work? It exists in Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran; it identifies weakness when you are not clear in your stance against your enemy,\u201d Zohar said in a Sunday interview with Radio 103 FM.<\/p>\n

\"AA memorial ceremony at the Nova festival marking two years since the October 7 massacre when Hamas terrorists infiltrated southern Israel, murdering more than 1200 people. October 07, 2025. (credit: Tsafrir Abayov\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they [Hamas] saw a government supported by an Islamist party, fragmented and unclear in its positions, they identified weakness,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who thinks this won\u2019t happen if a similar government dependent on Arab parties is formed, the next October 7 is on the way,” Zohar<\/a> continued.<\/p>\n

Zohar: Oct 7. ‘happened on our watch’<\/p>\n

Zohar acknowledged in the interview that the massacre had \u201chappened on our watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it was woven together during the previous watch of Bennett and Lapid as prime ministers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Zohar claimed that intelligence had shown it was known former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar planned the attacks after \u201cseeing the government\u2019s weakness\u201d when Bennett and Lapid were in power.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we came to power, the arguments among the people over the judicial reform began, and division was created. It may have been a significant trigger in his decision-making,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire State of Israel, all its citizens from Right and Left, received a resounding slap in the face,\u201d Zohar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis nation rose from the worst situation imaginable and managed to defeat its enemies despite the sorrow over the hardest event Israel has experienced since its founding. The people rose up, coped, and defeated their enemies,\u201d Zohar said.<\/p>\n

Both Bennett and Lapid strongly condemned Zohar\u2019s statements, saying they were being used in an attempt to evade accountability and reshape the narrative after the attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe outgoing government has launched yet another campaign to evade responsibility for the blood of those murdered on October 7,” \u00a0Bennett stated.<\/p>\n

“It won\u2019t help. \u00a0It\u2019s yours, Netanyahu. And it\u2019s not AI.”<\/p>\n

\u201cYou transferred suitcases of dollars to Hamas. You allowed the terror monster to grow on the border. You tolerated the rocket fire and incendiary balloons. You surrendered to Hamas and Hezbollah.”<\/p>\n

Lapid addressed Zohar directly, saying that he and the government had “ignored all our warnings, all the alerts, strengthened Hamas as a matter of policy, and brought upon us the greatest disaster to befall the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”<\/p>\n

“At the very least, do one thing: be ashamed,” Lapid added.<\/p>\n

Zohar\u2019s statements regarding the attacks come amid ongoing condemnation from coalition MKs and ministers of the newly formed Bennett-Lapid alliance, running together in the upcoming elections on a list called Together.<\/p>\n

Bennett, Lapid, and other opposition leaders have pledged not to include Arab parties in a future coalition after the elections. \u00a0It remains unclear whether the opposition bloc can secure a majority without Arab party support.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu is among the only major officials who have not resigned following the October 7 massacre. The political echelon has repeatedly blocked a state inquiry into the attacks, despite polls showing huge public support for this type of investigation.<\/p>\n

There has been a divide over what kind of investigation should be conducted and who should lead it.<\/p>\n

Amid the ongoing rift between the government and the judiciary, Netanyahu has repeatedly spoken out against judicial appointments that lead to investigations.<\/p>\n

Bennett and other opposition party leaders have vowed to conduct a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attacks after the elections.<\/p>\n

In October, the government voted in favor of Netanyahu\u2019s proposal to change the official name of the Israel-Hamas War from Operation Swords of Iron to the War of Revival.<\/p>\n

This decision also sparked controversy, with critics saying that framing the war as a \u201crevival\u201d was a way for the government to evade responsibility for the failures on October 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar (Likud) said on Sunday that Hamas plotted the October 7 massacre in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[496,1411,37,2742,16705,26184,1413],"class_list":{"0":"post-106864","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-gaza","9":"tag-hamas","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-israeli-politics","12":"tag-likud","13":"tag-miki-zohar","14":"tag-the-october-7-massacre"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116551094451069409","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}