For years, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has relied on a straightforward defense to shield his legacy from the tragedy of Oct. 7, 2023. His narrative has been simple: Israel’s military and intelligence chiefs kept him completely in the dark, and “no one woke me up” on the morning of the Hamas massacre.

However, that political shield has completely shattered. A blockbuster investigation published by the liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz, combined with news that Netanyahu is launching a high-stakes libel lawsuit against the publication, has upended the country’s political landscape just weeks before national elections.