In Israel, Sara Netanyahu attacks opposition leader and revives conspiracy theory

Sara Netanyahu has accused opposition leader Yair Golan of appearing unusually prepared on the morning of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, reviving a conspiracy theory ahead of tightly contested legislative elections.

In an interview broadcast Monday evening on Channel 14, a station close to the government, Netanyahu said Golan was “already dressed and ready” at dawn on October 7, “while others knew nothing, including the prime minister.” Golan, an army general who leads the left-wing Democrats party, has opposed the coalition headed by her husband, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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already dressed and ready

Golan’s party denounced the comments on X as “vile and false.” It said that spreading conspiracy theories against Golan and defaming his actions on October 7 crossed “a red line bordering on madness.”

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while others knew nothing, including the prime minister

Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party and a principal rival of the prime minister, also condemned what he called “the mad and false conspiracy theory of treason.” He accused Netanyahu’s circle of promoting it to stir hatred and extend the prime minister’s hold on power.

The accusations echo recurring claims among part of Israel’s political class that an internal betrayal helped cause the attack. An August poll for Channel 13 found that 40% of Israelis, and 63% of voters supporting the current coalition, believed such a betrayal had contributed to the massacre.

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vile and false

The Hamas assault killed 1,221 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count, and saw 251 people abducted to Gaza. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 73,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run Health Ministry. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October 2025.

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a red line bordering on madness