In Oct. 7 blame game, former Shin Bet chief sues Netanyahu ahead of elections
(JTA)—The bitter battle that has raged between Israel’s security and political establishments over who bears responsibility for the failures ahead of the Oct. 7 attacks is kicking into high gear as Israel prepares to hold its first election since the Hamas invasion in 2023.
This week, former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar upped the stakes by filing a defamation lawsuit against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The premier has blamed the intelligence head for the failures leading up to the attack even as many in the security establishment have pointed the finger at Netanyahu. Bar in his lawsuit lists a litany of occasions Netanyahu allegedly ignored or rejected advice that might have prevented the attacks.
In the run-up to the national vote on Oct. 27, Israeli media have been preoccupied with reports of intelligence that was purportedly shared with top government officials ahead of the attacks. What Netanyahu knew about the Hamas threat before the invasion — and when he knew it — has become a central issue in the campaign and a line of attack for his political rivals.
‘Despicable lie’: Knesset speaker slams accusations against Israel of genocide
(JNS)—Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana rejected accusations that Israel was committing genocide, in a speech he gave in Rome to parliamentary leaders at a Council of Europe gathering.
“Israel is not committing genocide. Enough with this despicable lie,” Ohana said, adding, “Today we face a severe crisis of courage on the international stage. Many world leaders proclaim the importance of their values. Yet when the moment of truth arrives, only a few are willing to defend them.”
During the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, “The deadliest day for the Jews since the Holocaust, there was no ‘NAZA,’ no collateral damage,” he said, referencing a recently released documentary that accused Israeli authorities of indifference to civilian deaths during the war against Hamas in Gaza.
“Innocent civilians, women, children, babies, even, were not caught in the crossfire. They were the targets,” Ohana said about the Palestinian invasion from Gaza in which terrorists killed more than 1,200 people.
Ohana also recalled the genocide of Jews in Europe as he held up several thick books.
“In this book, which always sits on my desk, and which I have brought with me, there are no words but one: Jew, Jew, Jew, Jew, 6 million times. When you feel its weight, you begin to grasp the scale of what we lost here on European soil. This is what real genocide looks like,” he said.
‘Sa’ir Brigades’: Israel Police bust suspected Palestinian terror cell in Judea and Samaria
(JNS)—The Israel Police have arrested five 15-year-old Palestinians suspected of establishing a terrorist group called the “Sa’ir Brigades” and carrying out firebomb and rock-throwing attacks, authorities announced.
The suspects were arrested in Sa’ir, near Hebron in Judea, in a joint operation with the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet).
In the nearby town of Beit Ula, police arrested a man in his 60s after seizing two pistols, ammunition, fireworks and tens of thousands of shekels from his home.
Police also arrested a suspect at the Tarqumiya Crossing who allegedly tried to run over officers with a stolen vehicle the previous weekend. All seven suspects were taken for questioning, and police are seeking to extend their detention.
Separately, Israeli security forces arrested five suspects in raids on two Palestinian charities in Judea and Samaria accused of supporting Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the IDF and Shin Bet announced.
During a raid on the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association in Ramallah, Samaria, forces seized computers, documents and checks allegedly linked to Hamas funds.
Ahead of elections, Bennett and Lapid pledge to strengthen Israel-Diaspora ties
(JTA)—Israel-Diaspora relations will be made a top priority for former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid if their B’Yachad party joins the next Israeli government, according to a working plan shared with JTA.
Under the plan, the party seeks to elevate the importance of Diaspora Jewry by transferring responsibility for relations from the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The plan also envisions the election by Diaspora Jewry of a non-voting observer to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
The party will also work to ensure that all streams of Judaism are treated with respect in Israel, particularly at the sacred Western Wall, a particular issue of contention between Israel’s Orthodox rabbinical establishment and non-Orthodox movements in the Diaspora.
The plan is being promoted as Israelis are preparing to vote for a new prime minister and parliament on Oct. 27. B’Yachad is one of the factions in the opposition or “change” bloc that is hoping to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud-led bloc.
‘Fauda’ co-creator: Museums and media have ‘sacred mission’ to preserve truth of Oct. 7′
(JNS)—Avi Issacharoff, co-creator of the hit Israeli TV series “Fauda,” said that museums and the media have a “sacred mission” to preserve the truth of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre as efforts grow around the world to deny or rewrite what happened.
Issacharoff delivered the remarks at the end of “Lessons Learned from October 7 in Forensic Medicine,” an international conference held at the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem (MOTJ). The two-day gathering brought together forensic experts, physicians, police and others involved in identifying victims and documenting evidence from the Hamas attack.
“There’s a war today in the world and also in the State of Israel,” Issacharoff said in an interview with MOTJ’s Noa Amouyal. “There’s a war over the truth, over what happened in reality.”
In addition to the media, he said, “Museums, documentation projects and even TV shows have a sacred mission: to keep the truth alive, to keep people’s minds in the light and not in the darkness.”
Their role, he continued, is not to allow the historical record to be “stolen” by false narratives that erase Oct. 7 or portray Hamas as a movement for liberation.
Issacharoff said Israelis, himself included, had failed before Oct. 7 to take seriously what Hamas leaders were openly saying about their intentions. They repeatedly called on Palestinians and Muslims to join the war to eliminate the “Zionist entity,” he recalled.
