The New York Times today took the somewhat unusual action of responding in its X account to the denial by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of an earlier Times article. They said that his response “does not refute the facts”.
On July 11, the New York Times had published the results of their investigation that Netanyahu’s sabotage of Gaza ceasefire agreements was primarily to keep himself in power. That same day, the Prime Minister’s Office responded to the Times in a statement that claimed that the Times coverage “defames Israel, its brave people and soldiers, and its prime minister.” The office also praised Netanyahu’s decisions post-October 7, 2023, as leading to the “greatest military comebacks in history.” Curiously, they then deleted the statement and, since then, have re-posted it.
Today, the Times stated that its investigation had drawn “on dozens of government records and military documents and interviews with more than 110 officials in Israel, the U.S., and across the Arab world.... Our role as independent journalists is to report and disclose information vital to the public interest, and to hold leaders to account regardless of party. The statement from the Prime Minister’s office does not refute the facts of that reporting. What the Times investigation shows in detail is how prolonging the Gaza war helped Mr. Netanyahu stay in power.” In its report, the Times said Netanyahu’s office “declined several requests for interviews and did not respond to a detailed list of the findings” from the article.
Otherwise, the Times also touched on Netanyahu’s troubled relationships with top security officials, stating that he repeatedly dismissed their assessments that his own pre-Oct. 7, 2023 assaults upon Israel’s governing institutions, in particular, the judiciary, were being viewed by Israel’s adversaries as an invitation to attack. The situation deteriorated “to the point that he had generals patted down before meeting with him to make sure they weren’t recording the conversations.”
Another Israeli response to the Times article came from Gen. Yair Golan (ret.), the head of the Israeli Democrats Party. He tweeted: “The New York Times investigation only reinforces what everyone already knows: Netanyahu, Smotrich, and Ben-Gvir are preventing a deal to survive politically. The lives of hostages and soldiers are less important to them than their positions. They are an extreme minority dragging an entire country into the abyss. They are once again derailing the deal. To save lives and the country, the government must be brought down.”
