Zohar’s remarks came even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was already in power when the 2023 attacks occurred.
Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar (Likud) said on Sunday that Hamas had planned the October 7, 2023, massacre while the government was led by former prime ministers Naftali Bennet and Yair Lapid in 2022.
His remarks were insistent, despite the fact that the deadly attacks took place when the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was already in power.
There still has not been an investigation into the government’s role in the attacks over two and a half years on.
Zohar criticized that the government led by Bennett and Lapid was the first time an Arab party had been part of Israel’s coalition, in part attributing the attacks to that situation.
“How does the extremist Islamic mind work? It exists in Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran; it identifies weakness when you are not clear in your stance against your enemy,” Zohar said in a Sunday interview with Radio 103 FM.
A memorial ceremony at the Nova festival marking two years since the October 7 massacre when Hamas terrorists infiltrated southern Israel, murdering more than 1200 people. October 07, 2025. (credit: Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)
“When they [Hamas] saw a government supported by an Islamist party, fragmented and unclear in its positions, they identified weakness,” he added.
“Anyone who thinks this won’t happen if a similar government dependent on Arab parties is formed…” Should that happen, he warned, “The next October 7 will be on its way.”
Zohar: Oct 7. ‘happened on our watch’
Zohar acknowledged in the interview that the massacre had “happened on our watch.” But, he said, “it was woven together during the previous watch of Bennett and Lapid as prime ministers.
Zohar claimed that intelligence has shown that former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar planned the attacks after “seeing the government’s weakness” when Bennett and Lapid were in power.
“When we came to power, the arguments among the people over the judicial reform began, and division was created. It may have been a significant trigger in [Sinwar’s] decision-making,” he said.
“The entire State of Israel, all its citizens from Right and Left, received a resounding slap in the face,” Zohar acknowledged.
Nevertheless, he added, “This nation rose from the worst situation imaginable and managed to defeat its enemies despite the sorrow over the hardest event Israel has experienced since its founding. The people rose up, coped, and defeated their enemies.”
Both Bennett and Lapid strongly condemned Zohar’s statements, saying they were being used to evade accountability and reshape the narrative in the wake of the attacks.
“The outgoing government has launched yet another campaign to evade responsibility for the blood of those murdered on October 7,” Bennett said. “It won’t help. It’s yours, Netanyahu. And it’s not AI.”
He continued, “You transferred suitcases of dollars to Hamas. You allowed the terror monster to grow on the border. You tolerated the rocket fire and incendiary balloons. You surrendered to Hamas and Hezbollah.”
Lapid addressed Zohar directly, saying that he and the government had “ignored all our warnings, all the alerts, strengthened Hamas as a matter of policy, and brought upon us the greatest disaster to befall the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
“At the very least, do one thing: Be ashamed,” Lapid added.
Zohar’s statements regarding the attacks come amid ongoing condemnation from coalition MKs and ministers about the newly formed Bennett-Lapid alliance. The two are running together in the upcoming elections in a list called Together.
While Bennett, Lapid, and other opposition leaders have pledged not to include Arab parties in a future coalition after the elections, it remains unclear whether the opposition bloc would be able to secure a majority without Arab party support.
Netanyahu is among the few major officials who have not resigned following the October 7 massacre. The political echelon has repeatedly blocked a state inquiry into the attacks, despite polls showing huge public support for this type of investigation.
There has been a divide over what kind of investigation should be conducted and who should lead it. Amid the ongoing rift between the government and the judiciary, Netanyahu has repeatedly spoken out against judicial appointments being in charge of the investigation.
Bennett and other opposition party leaders have vowed to conduct a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 after the elections.
In October, the government voted in favor of Netanyahu’s proposal to change the official name of the Israel-Hamas War from Operation Swords of Iron to War of Revival.
This decision also sparked controversy, with critics saying that framing the war as a “revival” was a way for the government to evade responsibility for the failures on October 7.