Hillary floats stunning Oct. 7 theory: Did Netanyahu let Hamas attack so he could ‘come down hard’?

BS BULLETIN:

Hillary Clinton suggested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have ignored a reported warning about Hamas because he wanted an opportunity to “come down hard.”
Clinton acknowledged she doesn’t know what Netanyahu was thinking and also offered a less sinister possibility: that he simply didn’t believe the warning.
Netanyahu vehemently denies the underlying report that UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed warned him before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

Hillary Clinton just floated an extraordinary theory about one of the darkest days in Israeli history.

The former secretary of state suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have allowed a reported warning about an impending Hamas attack to go unheeded because he wanted to see what Hamas would do — giving him justification to retaliate.

Clinton made the remarks during an appearance on MS NOW’s Morning Joe while discussing a bombshell report concerning Netanyahu and the events leading up to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.

The report, published by Haaretz and detailed in a new book by two of its journalists, alleges that UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed personally warned Netanyahu roughly a week and a half before the attack that Hamas was preparing a major operation.

Netanyahu has called the report an “absolute lie” and denies that the alleged conversation ever took place.

Clinton nevertheless raised two possibilities for what Netanyahu might have been thinking if the warning did occur.

Either he didn’t believe it, she said, or — as Clinton put it — “it’s horrible to say” — he wanted to see what Hamas was planning so he could subsequently “come down hard” and improve his own political position.

Clinton immediately acknowledged that she didn’t know Netanyahu’s actual thinking.

But she didn’t back away from her broader criticism.

She characterized the events surrounding Oct. 7 as failures of imagination, leadership and protecting the Israeli people.

The underlying allegation itself is explosive.

According to the Haaretz account, bin Zayed warned Netanyahu that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major operation that could destabilize the region.

Netanyahu’s office says there was no such phone call between the two leaders during September or early October 2023.

His attorneys have threatened legal action against Haaretz, while the newspaper says it stands behind its reporting.

The UAE has not publicly confirmed the alleged conversation, saying it would not comment on speculation regarding communications between government leaders.

Clinton’s comments went beyond Oct. 7. She said the United States should adopt a “very tough position” toward Israel if Israeli voters return Netanyahu’s government to power in the country’s upcoming election.

“I love Israel and I hate Netanyahu’s government and his policies,” Clinton said.

She argued that a different Israeli government could create new opportunities for progress and said Washington needs to exercise “tough love” toward its ally.

But it is her speculation about Netanyahu and Oct. 7 that is likely to generate the most attention.

Hamas terrorists murdered roughly 1,200 people in Israel and abducted 251 others on Oct. 7, setting off a war whose consequences continue to reverberate across the Middle East.

And Hillary Clinton just publicly entertained the possibility that Israel’s prime minister saw the attack coming — and deliberately chose not to stop it.

She says she doesn’t know whether that’s what happened. Netanyahu says the warning itself never happened.

MY QUICK TAKE

That’s one hell of a thing to speculate about on national television.

There’s an enormous difference between saying: Netanyahu received a warning and failed catastrophically to act on it.

And suggesting: Maybe he wanted to let Hamas show its hand so he could “come down hard.”

The first is an allegation that should be investigated.

The second starts wandering into territory where you’d better have extraordinary evidence.

And right now, even the premise underneath Hillary’s speculation is disputed. Netanyahu says the reported warning never happened at all.

So investigate the warning. Investigate every failure. Israelis deserve to know exactly what their government knew before Oct. 7.

But Hillary Clinton just went considerably further than asking questions about incompetence. She floated the possibility that Netanyahu had a political motive for letting Hamas proceed.

On September 10. The night before the anniversary of 9/11. Good grief.