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<\/p>\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife has been hit with a defamation lawsuit worth almost than $1.2 million, accused of pushing a conspiracy theory that a leading opposition politician had advance notice of Hamas’ deadly October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.<\/p>\n
Former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) deputy chief of staff Yair Golan, who is the leader of the centre-left Democrats party, has been lauded for his actions in the hours after Hamas fighters poured over the Gaza fence line and opened fire.<\/p>\n
After hearing about the attacks, Mr Golan raced towards southern Israel and volunteered to return to duty.<\/p>\n
He has been widely credited as saving a number of people who had been at the Nova Music Festival, the scene of the deadliest massacre on the day.<\/p>\n
In an interview last week with Israel’s Channel 14, often regarded as one of the most right-wing media organisations in the country, Sara Netanyahu questioned how Mr Golan had managed to arrive at the scene so quickly.<\/p>\n
She insinuated Mr Golan had some sort of inside knowledge about the terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n
“When you’re a military officer of such a high rank, claiming you were a combatant on \u2026 October 7th, you were already there from early in the morning, dressed and ready,” Mrs Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n
“And at a very, very early hour, that others didn’t even know about [the attacks].<\/p>\n
“Even the prime minister \u2014 shouldn’t he know a war was breaking out? Why inform him? Never mind, that’s another matter.”<\/p>\n
Mr Golan reacted angrily to the comments, and threatened Mrs Netanyahu with a 2.55 million Israeli new shekel ($1.17 million) defamation and damages claim after he said she refused to retract the remarks.<\/p>\n
“Paranoia, it turns out, is a family business,” Mr Golan said in a video statement released on his social media profiles.<\/p>\n
“Netanyahu never stops lying and covering up. The tighter the political noose tightens around his neck, the more dangerous he becomes.<\/p>\n
“When he feels that power is slipping from his grasp, there is no lie he won’t tell, no red line he won’t cross. This is a despicable and vile attempt. We’re putting an end to this.”<\/p>\n
Supporters of the prime minister have frequently suggested that he was kept in the dark about the attacks by senior members of the Israeli defence and security establishment, often referred to in the Israeli media as the ‘betrayal theory’.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sara Netanyahu has been hit with a defamation lawsuit worth almost than $1.2 million. (Reuters: Gil Cohen-Magen)<\/p>\n
Mr Netanyahu himself has repeatedly claimed the situation would have been totally different had he been woken up earlier on that day.<\/p>\n
“And the question is why? They hide things all the time,” he said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n
“They knew exactly what I would do \u2014 they knew I would deploy the air force there, and wake the entire IDF up, I would not allow anyone to get close to the [Gaza] fences, I would immediately kill them [the Hamas fighters].”<\/p>\n
It is part of a familiar narrative from the Netanyahu Government and its leader \u2014 that a ‘deep state’ is present in Israel, devoting much of its efforts to undermining the prime minister and his allies.<\/p>\n
Mr Netanyahu has rejected calls for an independent inquiry into the failures which led to the Hamas attacks.<\/p>\n
An independent probe is something which many of his political opponents are promising in the upcoming election, scheduled for October 27 \u2014 including his former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot, now the leader of the Yashar party.<\/p>\n