Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, ignited a political firestorm Monday night after suggesting in a Channel 14 interview that Democrats party chairman Yair Golan may have known in advance about the October 7th massacre.

Netanyahu said Golan was “dressed and ready” in southern Israel in the early morning hours of Oct. 7 — before her husband, the prime minister, was informed of the attack. Pressed directly on whether she believed there was a “betrayal from within,” she demurred: “I don’t want to talk. I don’t know. Let there be a real commission of inquiry.”

Golan, a former IDF deputy chief of staff, has said he rushed to the Gaza border area that morning after learning of the attack, arriving armed and alone to help evacuate wounded from the Nova festival massacre site.

Golan’s attorneys sent a cease-and-desist letter Tuesday demanding Sara Netanyahu issue a public apology within 24 hours and agree to a financial settlement to be donated to Nova survivors. Absent that, the letter warns, Golan will file a defamation suit seeking no less than NIS 2.5 million. The letter argues the interview comments were not legitimate political criticism but “defamatory and false remarks” casting Golan as “a partner to an act of betrayal,” timed ahead of the upcoming election.

Sara Netanyahu responded with her own warning letter, rejecting Golan’s demands and instead demanding he apologize to her within 24 hours — threatening a NIS 1 million suit of her own over his public statements and a separate incident at a hair salon.

Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the controversy Tuesday evening in a video posted to social media: “There was no betrayal on October 7th — and my wife didn’t say that either.”