{
  "id": 5538630,
  "title": "Israel cannot prevent another October 7 if Netanyahu keeps rewriting the first one - opinion",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/04/israel-cannot-prevent-another-october-7-if-netanyahu-keeps-rewriting",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-04T11:06:29.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Jerusalem Post",
    "slug": "jerusalem-post",
    "url": "https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-907447"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Israel faces an alarming risk of another October 7-like attack if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to disregard the warnings and lessons of the past, according to opposition leader Yair Lapid. Lapid's stark warning, delivered three years ago on September 20, 2023, just before Hamas's surprise invasion, echoed the warnings he had received from the Israeli security establishment. Lapid cited the deep divisions within Israeli society over the government's judicial overhaul, which he believed had made the country vulnerable to attacks. Tragically, two-and-a-half weeks after Lapid's warning, Hamas did indeed launch its attack, sending Israeli children to fight in Gaza, Jenin, and eventually Lebanon, while forcing parents to take refuge in bomb shelters. The aftermath of the October 7 disaster has been marred by manipulation and distortion, especially by members of the governing coalition who seek to deflect criticism and evade responsibility for the catastrophe that unfolded on their watch. One particularly egregious example of such manipulation is the attempt by Prime Minister Netanyahu's wife, Sara Netanyahu, to tarnish the reputation of Yair Golan, a brave Israeli who risked his life to rescue others during the attack. Sara's insinuation that Golan had advance knowledge of the attack, while her husband remained unaware, is both disgusting and offensive. The real story, however, lies not in Sara Netanyahu's comments, but in the political maneuvering of the governing coalition, which continues to evade responsibility for the crisis. Netanyahu himself has claimed that if he had been woken at 4 or 5 a.m. on October 7, he would have taken different actions to prevent the invasion. However, this argument is highly unlikely to be true, as senior security officials, including the IDF chief of staff, Shin Bet director, and Military Intelligence chief, would have presented the same assessment to him, suggesting that Hamas was not preparing for a major attack. Instead, it appears that Netanyahu's primary objective is to portray October 7 as exclusively their failure, a misguided attempt to absolve himself, his policies, and the strategic decisions that led to the disaster.",
  "summary": "Israel cannot learn from October 7 if its leaders continue to deflect responsibility and rewrite the failures that made the massacre possible.",
  "key_points": [
    "Opposition leader Yair Lapid warns of another October 7-like attack if Netanyahu ignores warnings.",
    "Deep divisions in Israeli society due to judicial overhaul make the country vulnerable.",
    "Sara Netanyahu's attempt to tarnish Yair Golan's reputation is criticized."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}