Netanyahu apologizes for Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, warns Israel now faces 'full-fledged Iranian axis'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a new interview with Time Magazine, apologized for the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas terrorists happening on his watch, and warned that the country now faces a "full-fledged Iranian axis."

Netanyahu had been prime minister for almost a year when Hamas terrorists launched the attack on southern Israel that left 1,200 people dead and hundreds more taken as hostages in Gaza.

In an interview conducted on Aug. 4 at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, Time asked Netanyahu whether he would apologize for the Oct. 7 attack, noting his 17-year cumulative political career has been built on the argument that he is the best leader to ensure Israel’s safety.

"Apologize?" Netanyahu asked. "Of course, of course. I am sorry, deeply, that something like this happened. And you always look back and you say, ‘Could we have done things that would have prevented it?’"

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Ten months after what amounted to the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, the Biden administration has increasingly grown frustrated with Netanyahu for failing to deliver a plan to end the war and get the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas home.

Israel now faces more fronts – in the north with Hezbollah in Lebanon, in the Gulf with the Houthis in Yemen – and now is bracing for an aerial assault from its main enemy, Iran.

"We’re facing not merely Hamas," Netanyahu told TIME. "We’re facing a full-fledged Iranian axis, and we understand that we have to organize ourselves for broader defense."

According to a July poll by Israel’s most watched television station, 72% of Israelis believe Netanyahu should resign now or after the