In a new interview with Time magazine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized for the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack that occurred during his term and warned that the country now faces a “full-scale Iranian axis.”
Nearly a year after Netanyahu became prime minister, Hamas terrorists launched attacks on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage in the Gaza Strip.
In an interview held at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on August 4, Time asked Netanyahu whether he would apologize for the October 7 attack, noting that his 17-year political career has been built on the assertion that he is the best leader to ensure Israel’s security.
“Do I apologize?” Netanyahu asked. “Of course. I’m deeply sorry that this happened. And I always look back and think, ‘Could we have prevented this?'”
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on July 24, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Ten months after the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, the Biden administration has grown increasingly frustrated with Netanyahu, who has failed to present a plan to end the war and bring home more than 100 hostages being held by Hamas.
Israel now faces many more fronts, with Lebanon’s Hezbollah in the north and Yemen’s Houthis in the Gulf, and is now bracing for air attacks from its main enemy, Iran.
“We’re not just dealing with Hamas,” Netanyahu told Time magazine. “We’re dealing with a full-scale Iranian axis, and we understand that we need to organize for a broader defense.”
A July poll by Israel’s most-watched television station found that 72 percent of Israelis think Netanyahu should step down, either now or once the conflict is over.
Critics, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war to advance his own political ambitions.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is more interested in his own longevity in power than he is in the interests of the Israeli people or the state of Israel,” Barak told TIME. “It will take half a generation to repair the damage he has caused in the last year.”
Netanyahu insisted that Israel must destroy all elements of Iran’s “axis of resistance” in the region to prevent future massacres and to prevent Hamas from claiming Palestinian territory.
“Its destruction has huge implications for Israel’s security,” Netanyahu told Time magazine, calling the war an existential one. “Bad press is better than a good obituary.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed Congress in Washington, DC on July 25 in an attempt to rally support from Israel’s closest allies, but about 130 Democratic members of Congress and Vice President Harris declined to attend.
“There’s a lot of reporting about declining support among some Americans, but I don’t think that has anything to do with Israel,” Netanyahu told TIME.
“This has a strong American relevance,” he added, pointing out that a Harvard-Harris poll conducted in January found 80 percent of respondents support Israel and 20 percent support Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Helgi Halevi and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant at the Operations Center in Jerusalem on July 20, 2024. (Israeli Prime Minister’s Office/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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“America has a problem,” Netanyahu said, pointing to its heavy support for terrorist organizations, “and it’s not Israel’s problem.”
Both the Biden administration and former President Trump have said they want to see an end to the war, and Netanyahu has noted in the past that while Israel did not start the war, it must be able to end it for its future security.
When US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Tel Aviv earlier this year, he reportedly told Netanyahu to end the war because the Israeli military had already prevented anything like October 7 from happening again. Netanyahu reportedly responded that that was not his objective; rather, he said the goal was “totally destroy Hamas’ military power and its ability to govern.”
“Since the start of the war, we have done everything in our power to make humanitarian access possible,” Netanyahu told TIME, responding to claims by Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi that the Israeli operation amounts to “collective punishment” of civilians for Hamas’ actions.
President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House on July 25, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
Time noted that over the past decade, after Hamas took power, first through elections and then by force, Netanyahu adopted policies that allowed Qatari money to flow into Gaza, which was meant to incentivize Hamas to rule peacefully but instead funded the construction of miles of terror tunnels beneath civilian infrastructure. And in January 2023, Netanyahu led government reforms that limited the power of the judiciary, sparking mass protests.
“You are weakening us and our enemies will know, and we will pay the price,” former Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned Netanyahu at the time.
The prime minister condemned the protesters, many of whom have said they would not join the Israeli army if the country’s democratic institutions were undermined.
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“The refusal to take office due to internal political arguments — I think that played a role,” Netanyahu told TIME.
But Netanyahu said not going to war with Hamas in the past was his biggest mistake, and he listened to his security cabinet members who opposed such action. Israel’s strategy for years has been to periodically strike back against Hamas attacks, dealing a blow until the terror group agreed to a ceasefire, ultimately preserving its ability to control Gaza and strengthen its terror infrastructure, including a complex network of underground tunnels.
Time magazine reported that when Israel was just under two months into its war with Hamas in 2014, Israeli officials said the security cabinet had presented Prime Minister Netanyahu with a plan to destroy the terrorist group, which was expected to kill around 10,000 Gaza civilians and around 500 Israeli soldiers.
“There was no domestic support for such action,” Netanyahu told TIME about the plan, “and there was certainly no international support for such action. And you need both.”
