Ex-Shin Bet chief says he’ll sue Netanyahu for claim he withheld pre-Oct. 7 warnings

Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar on Monday said he would file a defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who earlier in the day accused the ex-spy chief of knowing about the threat of a Hamas attack on the night of October 7, 2023, but choosing not to inform the prime minister.

Netanyahu’s accusation, and Bar’s threat of legal action, came amid controversy in Israel over several reports that Arab leaders had warned the prime minister of an impending attack in the days and weeks leading up to the Hamas invasion of southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people in Israel and sparked the war in Gaza.

In an apparent attempt to quell the storm, Netanyahu on Sunday visited the United Arab Emirates to meet with its leader, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, and reportedly asked that bin Zayed publicly deny a report that he had warned Netanyahu about the looming Hamas threat in a phone call just before the attack.

The Prime Minister’s Office on Monday confirmed the visit, but did not comment on its purpose.

Earlier Monday, Netanyahu flatly denied separate reports that Egypt’s then-intelligence chief Abbas Kamel had personally called him just days before the Hamas invasion. He instead accused former Shin Bet chief Bar of not alerting him on the night before the attack, and chalked the reports of repeated warnings to a “left-wing media” campaign aimed at pinning blame for October 7 on him.

Netanyahu claimed that on the night before October 7, Bar, then-IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and IDF Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva “discussed all the warning signs” of a Hamas attack, but “Bar decided not to call and update the prime minister, not to alert the civilian security squads and IDF forces in the field, not to evacuate the Nova festival.”

The Kan public broadcaster reported Monday evening, based on an official investigation of the occurrences of that night, that there had been no contact between Bar and Halevi in the hours prior to the Hamas attack.

In a dramatic statement made just hours after Netanyahu’s accusation, Bar threatened to sue for defamation and called for the release of documents and testimony concerning what information was given to Netanyahu in the lead-up to October 7, including Netanyahu’s schedule of meetings with foreign officials and members of security agencies.

Bar also said his lawyers would demand that top Netanyahu staffers be summoned to testify.

Netanyahu’s campaign blaming Bar for the attack “has no basis in reality,” the former Shin Bet chief said.

“After refusing for three years to acknowledge his responsibility and preventing, by every possible means, the establishment of a state commission of inquiry to which the public and bereaved families are entitled, he has begun to selectively publish documents in a manipulative manner and without their proper context,” he added.

“Now, as testimony concerning warnings he received before the massacre is beginning to emerge,” Bar said, “[Netanyahu] is attempting to deflect blame away from himself by leveling accusations at those who warned him in real time.”

Bar said he warned Netanyahu of “impending disaster in an unprecedented manner, and the prime minister ignored these warnings, as well as the recommendations to restore deterrence and reinforce the border.”

He added that he had been waiting for the establishment of a commission of inquiry to reveal those warnings, but could no longer keep quiet amid the premier’s campaign to pin the blame on him.

“You achieve victory through a preemptive attack on the enemy outside [the country], not on security forces at home,” he concluded.

Netanyahu has regularly blamed Israeli security officials for the failures of October 7, and asserted that if he had been woken in the early hours of that day, when security chiefs supposedly discussed concerning signs coming from Gaza, he would have ordered swift action and prevented the massacre.

He has also refused to establish a state commission of inquiry – Israel’s highest investigative authority – into the disaster, arguing that an independent panel appointed by the Supreme Court would be biased against his government, which has sought to curtail the powers of the judiciary. He has argued instead for a panel appointed by lawmakers, with its mandate and scope set by politicians.

Shin Bet demands legal action against Channel 12 for revealing trip

Meanwhile, the Shin Bet on Monday filed a complaint with the IDF Military Censor, demanding that it take legal action against Channel 12 for revealing Netanyahu’s Sunday trip to Abu Dhabi before he arrived back in Israel, which the Prime Minister’s Office claimed was “a serious security threat.”

The statement from the PMO was also the first confirmation that Netanyahu met with bin Zayed in the UAE, though it did not comment on the purpose of the trip or the topics discussed by the two leaders.

“The publication of the visit at the time it was published created a risk to the security of the prime minister, the operation, and the forces on the ground,” the PMO said.

The statement also revealed that Netanyahu’s wife Sara joined the trip, as did Mossad director Roman Gofman, National Security Adviser Shmuel Ben-Ezra, Military Secretary Maj. Gen. Guy Markizeno, and the head of the Shin Bet Security Division.

According to the PMO, the Shin Bet said the Channel 12 report came out almost an hour before Netanyahu’s plane landed back in Israel at 10:27 p.m.

It quoted a Mossad assessment as saying that led to “a serious threat to the security of the prime minister and the delegation.”

Netanyahu himself also said that he would be filing a libel lawsuit over the reports of warnings ahead of October, but did not specify who he would be suing. His office has threatened a number of outlets and journalists with lawsuits over unfavorable coverage it claims is libelous.

The was no immediate response by Channel 12 to the Shin Bet’s IDF Censor complaint.

Later Monday evening, the United Arab Emirates officially acknowledged Sunday’s meeting between bin Zayed and Netanyahu, though its statement made no mention of the report that the prime minister had sought an Emirati denial of the alleged warning ahead of October 7.

“During the meeting, the two sides discussed bilateral relations between the UAE and Israel and ways to strengthen and develop them,” the official Emirates News Agency said.