Tel Aviv (HRNW)- Former Israeli military commander and opposition Democrats party leader Yair Golan has filed a defamation and damages lawsuit against Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over remarks suggesting that he had prior knowledge of the surprise Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
According to Israeli media reports, Golan launched the legal action over comments made by Sara Netanyahu during an interview with a pro-government channel on August 31. While discussing Golan, she questioned how he, as a senior military official, managed to be prepared and reach southern Israel so early on the day of the attack, when other senior officials, including the prime minister, were reportedly unaware that a war had begun.
She also questioned Golan’s account of participating in the fighting against Hamas during the October 7 attack. Golan subsequently sent a legal notice demanding that Sara Netanyahu withdraw the remarks, apologize and make a substantial donation to victims of the Nova music festival. He said these demands were not fulfilled.
Golan maintains that he independently traveled to southern Israel at around 8:00 a.m. on October 7, approximately 90 minutes after the Hamas attack began. The former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli military reached the Nova festival area and participated in efforts to rescue people trapped there, actions that received widespread praise in Israel.
Golan has argued that the dispute goes beyond his personal reputation, saying it represents a broader political struggle over responsibility for what he described as the country’s worst failure. He accused the Netanyahu family of attempting to rewrite the history of October 7 and shift blame away from the government’s failures.
The controversy comes amid an ongoing Israeli debate over how Hamas was able to prepare for the October 7 assault without being detected in time and what information was available to Israel’s political leadership before the attack.
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