Ex-Shin Bet chief files defamation suit against Netanyahu, lists warnings given prior to Oct. 7

Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar files a defamation suit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleging that Bar knew about the threat of a Hamas attack in the hours ahead of October 7, 2023, but chose not to inform the prime minister.

In the NIS 3 million suit (approximately $975,000), Bar details the steps he and the Shin Bet took in the early hours of October 7 in response to concerns of an attack, including updating Netanyahu’s military secretariat at 3:55 a.m.

The former intelligence chief also details a long list of warnings he says he issued to Netanyahu in the months leading up to the October 7 attack.

According to Bar, they included a conversation with Netanyahu on a secure line on July 23, 2023, in which he said “I am passing you a strategic warning for war,” and that Israel’s enemies viewed the internal political divisions in Israel as an opportunity, adding that the only way to prevent it was a preemptive strike.

In a working meeting on August 21, Bar says, he underlined a “dramatic escalation” in the “directing of attacks from the Gaza Strip,” and says he made clear that “without offensive activity in Gaza, it would not be possible to change the reality.”

Bar adds that on September 14, 2023, “an unusual message was received from the enemy” and that he updated Netanyahu about it, although does not expand on what the message was.

The former Shin Bet chief says that in discussions on the issue on September 17, he warned of “a vector of conflict” without the possibility of avoiding it, and said there was an immediate need to strengthen deterrence.

Bar also says he warned on October 1, 2023, of a peak in the intentions of terror groups to carry out attacks, and that Israel would be dragged into a round of fighting against its will before the end of the holiday period, and recommended targeted assassinations of key terror leaders, which were ultimately not carried out.

The former intelligence chief says he is not trying to escape his share of the blame.

“As the head of the service, I bear responsibility for the fact that the Shin Bet failed in part in providing the required intelligence on the October 7 attack, and its timing. Accordingly, lowering my head in front of the bereaved families, I resigned from my position,” Bar writes.

“I waited quietly for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry that will finally expose the Shin Bet’s actions, along with the failures, in the face of an ongoing blood libel. In light of the prime minister’s unbridled outburst, I decided not to remain silent,” Bar declares.

Netanyahu’s accusations against Bar came amid several reports that the prime minister had been warned of an impending attack in the days and weeks leading up to the Hamas invasion of southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, sparking the war.