Former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant calls Netanyahu 'a liar' over Gaza war

Israel’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday branded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "a liar", accusing him of constructing a false narrative around the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023 in order to deflect responsibility. 

In a blistering interview with Channel 12, Gallant repeatedly criticised Netanyahu, rejecting claims contained in a 55-page submission the prime minister filed on Thursday to the state comptroller’s investigation into the failures surrounding the 7 October attack.  

The document, which draws on selective excerpts from internal discussions, largely shifts blame for the failure to prevent the Hamas-led assault onto political rivals and senior security officials in Israel - an approach Gallant dismissed as a "distortion of reality". 

"I did not think I would have to come here to the studio and say, ‘We have a liar for prime minister. The prime minister is a liar," Gallant said. 

Gallant, who was removed from his post in November 2024 and is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) alongside Netanyahu for war crimes in Gaza, also accused the prime minister of turning cabinet ministers against Israel’s security leadership. 

"After the huge failure on October 7, when the [Israeli army] and Shin Bet, led by the chief of staff and the Shin Bet chief, were courageously fighting back, when they were at the front, Netanyahu stabbed them in the back and stirred up all the government ministers against them and presented it all to the public," Gallant said. 

Gallant rejected Netanyahu’s narrative, accusing the premier of selectively assembling comments to suit his portrayal. 

"They take snippets of discussions, sentences, from long stretches of time and put them together," he told Channel 12. 

"Netanyahu’s first priority is himself, then his government, and then the country," Gallant added, accusing his former superior of claiming credit for successful actions while deflecting blame when policies fail. 

Gallant also dismissed Netanyahu’s assertion that Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza died because of weapons embargoes imposed by the previous US administration under President Joe Biden.

He described the claim as "incorrect", stating the deaths were "certainly not because of munitions". 

"We had difficulties – one must not belittle that," he said. "The Americans made things harder for us and used the supply side to try to maneuver delicately." 

Following the interview, Channel 12 aired a response it said came from individuals close to Netanyahu, which stated: "Following Gallant's lies, it will become clear who conditioned actions on advance notice to the Americans, as opposed to the prime minister, who did not hesitate and gave the instruction to carry them out."

On Thursday, Netanyahu appeared before Israel’s Knesset foreign affairs and defence committee, presenting a compilation of quotations and heavily redacted discussions spanning the 12 years preceding the October 2023 attack.  

Critics in Israel have argued the submission was crafted to shape public perception and minimise his responsibility for the intelligence and policy failures that preceded the Hamas attack, which killed around 1,150 people in Israel and led to the capture of 254 others. 

Netanyahu, who has consistently refused to accept direct responsibility for the failures of 7 October and has repeatedly sought to place blame elsewhere, has also since faced criticism from other key Israeli figures.  

Former Israeli army chief Gadi Eisenkot condemned his submissions in a letter to State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman on Friday, accusing the prime minister of filing a “fabricated defence”. 

Eisenkot said he would be willing to “set the record straight” regarding his own conduct during his tenure as army chief.