The on-air quote
An X clip posted by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein, captioned “Hillary Clinton suggests October 7 was an inside job,” thrust Hillary Clinton into a fresh controversy. In the clip, Clinton says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “wanted to see what they could plan so that then he could come down hard and it would enhance his position.” She immediately adds, “I don’t know what his thinking was,” and calls the episode “a failure of leadership,” according to Headline USA’s summary of the exchange.
Clinton made the comments during a Thursday appearance on Morning Joe, where she discussed lessons from 9/11 amid the current Middle East crisis. “I love Israel and I hate Netanyahu’s government and his policies,” she said, as reported by Fox News.
What prompted the speculation
Clinton referenced Israeli reporting she called a “bombshell,” tied to a Haaretz investigation connected to an upcoming book by journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval. Their reporting alleges that United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed warned Netanyahu roughly ten days before the Oct. 7 attack that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was preparing a major strike—and that Netanyahu brushed off the concern and did not brief his security chiefs, according to CNN’s account of the Haaretz claims.
Clinton framed two possibilities for Netanyahu’s alleged inaction: “either he didn’t believe it or he, it’s horrible to say, he wanted to see what they could plan so that then he could come down hard and it would enhance his position.” She followed by noting, “I don’t know what his thinking was.”
Denials, pushback, and a legal threat
Netanyahu’s office called the Haaretz account “an absolute lie” and said it plans to sue Haaretz for defamation, according to Al Jazeera. The UAE has declined to confirm or deny the specifics of the alleged personal warning. PBS NewsHour reported its correspondents found no independent support for the claimed call.
The caption vs. the quote
Klippenstein’s caption—“Hillary Clinton suggests October 7 was an inside job”—paired with the clip helped the segment spread across political circles, per Headline USA. Clinton’s words in the clip include her speculative scenario and her explicit caveat that she did not know Netanyahu’s thinking.
