Naftali Bennett released a sharp video response in which he derided Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lengthy written effort to shift responsibility for the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, portraying the veteran leader as “the Israeli Forrest Gump, a weak, pitiful, helpless nebach who just happened to stumble into events.”

In the same remarks, Bennett went on to say of Netanyahu: “He is not a leader, but someone who is led. He is not a commander, but a subordinate.”

Bennett’s comments, delivered in a recorded statement, invoked the 1994 film about an unassuming character who inadvertently becomes present at, or influences, major historical moments in postwar America. Bennett, a former prime minister and widely viewed as Netanyahu’s most formidable rival in the current election cycle, used the comparison to underscore what he described as Netanyahu’s absence of leadership.

The remarks were issued in reaction to Netanyahu’s publication last week of a 55-page compilation of responses he submitted to State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman, as part of the comptroller’s investigation into the October 7 attack.

Netanyahu, who had served as prime minister since 2009 with the exception of an 18-month interval in 2021–2022, had faced sustained criticism for attempting to present himself as having pushed for decisive action against Hamas, only to have been blocked by opposition from senior security officials and a lack of public support.

Addressing that argument directly, Bennett said, “Netanyahu has criticism of the security establishment — so do I,” before stressing that Netanyahu was “not a cabinet minister. He was the prime minister of Israel and the supreme commander of the State of Israel for 12.5 out of the 14 years preceding the greatest disaster in Israel’s history.”

Bennett also took aim at what he characterized as Netanyahu’s implication that he was unable to effectively direct Israel’s military and intelligence agencies, mocking the notion that the prime minister had been “incapable” of commanding the very institutions under his authority.

Summarizing his assessment of the document, Bennett said, “What emerges from it is that Netanyahu did not lead, did not manage, and did not govern,” arguing that in trying to clear himself of blame, the prime minister instead authored “the most severe indictment imaginable against a prime minister in Israel.”

Bennett concluded by saying, “In the 55 pages of this document, you see a weak man who allows the Hezbollah monster to grow before his eyes in the north and the Hamas monster to grow in the south to enormous dimensions, and he does nothing.”