Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has exposed top army officials of plotting a coup against her husband. This claim was made during a meeting last week with families of Israelis held captive by resistance fighters in Gaza, as reported by Haaretz on Tuesday.
“Israeli forces are seeking to stage a military coup against my husband,” Sara Netanyahu was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Despite interruptions from some family members, she reiterated, “the army brass wants to stage a coup.”
Haaretz reported that several army officials were present at the meeting alongside family members.
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was taken hostage on October 7, responded to the report, saying, “Instead of doing everything to save lives, [Netanyahu] is spreading delusional conspiracies and is busy inciting and sowing division.”
“If this is what the Netanyahu family thinks and this is how things are handled, what wonder is it that there’s no [hostage] deal and that the country is going up in flames? Today it’s already clear that there will be no deal and there will be no revival [for Israel] as long as Netanyahu is in power.”
Sara Netanyahu was not the only family member making such accusations. Her son, Yair Netanyahu, made similar claims earlier this month.
On June 17, Yair accused the military and the Shin Bet security service of “betrayal” during the October 7 Hamas raid, which caught Israeli intelligence and the military off guard, damaging their reputation.
“What are they trying to hide? If there was no betrayal, then why are they afraid of external and independent parties investigating what happened?” he wrote on X.
“Why did the army and intelligence chiefs keep claiming that Hamas was deterred? Where was the Air Force on October 7th?” he added.
During that raid, called Operation Al-Aqsa Flood by Hamas, Palestinian resistance fighters surprised Israel following near-daily attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque and violence by illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank. Reports indicate that resistance fighters killed many soldiers as the Israeli military scrambled to respond.
The attack on Israeli settlements and military sites, which were formerly Arab farms and villages, and the Israeli military’s disorganized response, including the controversial Hannibal Directive, resulted in the deaths of more than 1,130 people, according to Israeli officials and local media.
Palestinian fighters also took more than 250 hostages, with 116 still held in Gaza, including 41 who the Israeli army says are dead, some of whom were killed in Israeli strikes.
Since then, Israel has killed at least 37,658 Palestinians — mostly women, children, and infants — and wounded 86,237, amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has imposed a severe blockade on Gaza, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, starving.
Despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation for its continued invasion of Gaza.
More than eight months into the conflict, Gaza lies in ruins amid a blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which recently ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge before it was invaded on May 6.
