From the Liveblog of
Thursday, August 27, 2026
Censor allows publication of report Ronen Bar held direct hostage talks with Hamas, with PM’s approval
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Israel’s military censor has today permitted publication of a long-censored report that then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar held direct negotiations over hostage releases with exiled Hamas leaders after the October 7 Hamas invasion through February 2025, when he was removed from his leading role in Israel’s negotiating team by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Channel 12 reports.
The direct contacts were held with the approval of Netanyahu, the war cabinet and security cabinet, the TV report says. Such a direct channel had proved more effective in the past than negotiations via mediators, Bar reportedly noted in closed-door conversations, which is why he was astounded when Netanyahu removed him from the negotiating team.
The TV network reports that it knew of these talks in April 2025, but was barred from publishing the news by the military censor. However, it says the censor contacted Channel 12 today and invited it to resubmit the story for approval before ultimately approving it to be published.
Bar resigned from the Shin Bet in June 2025; the cabinet had voted to fire him that March, but that decision was frozen by the High Court.
Channel 12 suggests that the censor decision is tied to today’s other report on secret Hamas contacts — those allegedly held by Netanyahu via his emissary Shlomi Fogel in 2014. The TV network says it does not know whether the military censor contacted the channel today of her own volition, or whether she was told to do so — implying this may have been a directive from the prime minister.
“Someone is trying to tell us here that if it was acceptable after October 7, after Hamas slaughtered us, raped our women and invaded our communities, to hold direct contacts with them, and Ronen Bar did so, then what was the problem with Shlomi Fogel, Netanyahu’s man, holding contacts [with Hamas] before October 7. That’s the subconscious message.”
The difference, editorializes Channel 12, is that Bar was an authorized member of the security establishment, whereas Fogel was a private businessman.
The Times of Israel Community.