Israeli minister calls on Netanyahu to retract reported comment on reservist protest

A senior Israeli cabinet minister on Sunday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to retract a comment he was reported to have made about the need to check if a pre-war protest among army reservists pushed Hamas to carry out its attack last month.

A senior Israeli cabinet minister on Sunday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to retract a comment he was reported to have made about the need to check if a pre-war protest among army reservists pushed Hamas to carry out its attack last month. Israel's Channel 12 and other news outlets reported that Netanyahu said there may be a need to examine whether months of protests against his government, including by reservists who said they would no longer report for regular duty, added to Hamas' motivation to carry out the Oct. 7 rampage through southern Israel that triggered the current war.

Benny Gantz, who joined Netanyahu's war cabinet from the opposition as part of an emergency government, said Netanyahu must retract his comment. "Avoiding responsibility and slinging mud at the time of war is a blow to the country," Gantz wrote on social media platform X.