'Not a slip of tongue': Golan says Sara Netanyahu's October 7 comments are part of planned moves

Democrats Party chairman Yair Golan warned on Wednesday that Sara Netanyahu's comments about him having previous knowledge of the October 7 massacre were not "just a slip of the tongue," but part of a planned move designed to tarnish him and the government's political opponents.

"It's not a slip of the tongue. I simply see what's happening on the networks, what elements within the Likud, within the coalition, have been saying about me since October 7. This is not some slip of the tongue; it's a planned move," Golan said in an interview with Maariv's podcast broadcast on Wednesday.

"Netanyahu's real project is to dismantle the norms of Israeli society. It is to dismantle the values ​​of Israeli society," he added. "It is to turn good into evil, to turn straight into crooked, to turn the proper and the moral into corrupt. That's what he's doing."

Sara Netanyahu, in a Channel 14 interview on Monday evening, suggested that Golan knew about October 7 prior to the attacks. “When you are a military officer of such a high rank and claim that you fought on October 7, you were already there early in the morning, already dressed and prepared; at a very early hour, when others did not know, such as the prime minister," she said.

According to Golan, the government has been acting this way since way before the war. "They invented a story to smear political opponents," he explained. "It started before the war, during the coup. That is, from January 4, 2023, to October 7. Since then, and to this day, it's the same method. It's taking everyone who opposes them, labeling them a traitor, and when there are no things to cling to, then they invent conspiracy theories. This is a planned, systematic, orderly move."

Support from political opponents on the right

Golan also revealed that the support he has received from journalists and right-wing figures who do not identify with his political positions has also helped as encouragement.

"Yes, it's not just journalists; it's also people on the right who are clearly right-wing, and I want to tell you that it's very encouraging. It's really very encouraging," he said.

"It means that once we have some kind of common normative basis, that we know how to admit the truth together, then there's something to talk about. I think that when there are people on the right who are clearly right-wing who make a statement that begins first and foremost with a clear message of values," he added.

He also recalled the morning of October 7, explaining that he woke up earlier, by 6:15 a.m., and started noticing more movement than usual, with people going for their phones. He then decided to turn on the radio and waited until his wife woke up.

"At eight in the morning I told her: 'I have to go back to the army.' I went upstairs, looked in the warehouse for the military shoes, and found them. At eight thirty I left the house," he said. "I said to myself, what am I doing? I said: We'll go to the Home Front Command headquarters. It's also on the way south, and I was also the commander of the Home Front Command. I knew I would be welcomed there."

He then arrived at the headquarters around 9:00 a.m. "I went into the command situation assessment, and that's when I understood for the first time the dimensions of the disaster," he pointed out. "I signed for a weapon, a vest, and a helmet, got into my private car, and went down."

He also recalled being surprised by the reaction he received from the soldiers at the checkpoints. "I arrived at the camp; I was at the checkpoints. I was surprised. I thought they would block me, that they wouldn't let me in. At all the checkpoints I passed through, the soldiers were so frightened that when they saw a senior commander arriving in the area, they welcomed me warmly."

Netanyahu launched campaign to spread October 7 conspiracy theories, Likud member says

On Tuesday, a Likud source told N12 that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched an intentional campaign aimed at spreading conspiracy theories about October 7.

There is an intentional effort to propagate such rumors as part of an effort to distance the prime minister from the massacre, "at all costs," the source said.

On Tuesday night, Netanyahu claimed in an Instagram post that IDF officers intentionally failed to inform him of the attack because they didn't want him to prevent it. In May 2024, the IDF confirmed that the prime minister had received four warning letters between March and July of 2023, concerning how Israel’s "enemies" perceived the societal divides in the State of Israel and their effect on Israel and the IDF in particular.

The post clarified Sara Netanyahu's earlier remarks, adding that "there was no betrayal on October 7; there was a failure.”

Golan demands apology from Sara Netanyahu

Golan demanded that Sara Netanyahu issue a formal apology within 24 hours or face an NIS 2.5 million lawsuit for defamation.

"I retract the statements I made in my interview with Channel 14 regarding Yair Golan, which were nothing more than false and baseless nonsense. Mr. Golan went to the Gaza border area on October 7 armed only with his weapon and, while risking his life, saved young people from the Nova music festival. Mr. Golan, like all Israeli citizens, learned of the Hamas attack when the first sirens sounded at 6:29 a.m. on October 7 and, as a result, decided to act and went into the field.”

He added, "They are trying to rewrite October 7 in order to erase Netanyahu’s responsibility for the greatest failure in the country’s history.”

Responding to Netanyahu's Instagram post, Golan said that it was "not an apology, but an attempt to minimize the damage.”