Ex-Shin Bet chief said to meet with Herzog, ministers to convince Netanyahu of threat before Oct. 7

Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar reportedly met with several key political figures and allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the months before the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion to try and persuade them of the security warnings he was issuing.

Channel 12 reports that Bar met with President Isaac Herzog, several cabinet ministers and right-wing media personality and longtime Netanyahu booster Yaakov Bardugo so that they might help convince Netanyahu of the severity of the threat.

According to the report, Bardugo — who is now in the 11th spot on the Likud party list for the upcoming election and certain to enter the Knesset — accused Bar of being “a political actor” who wanted to stop the government’s judicial overhaul agenda, which had created a massive political and societal schism.

Bar and former defense minister Yoav Gallant both issued warnings themselves that the judicial overhaul was damaging Israeli security in the months before the Hamas invasion, since the country’s enemies believed it be weak as a result of the political divisions. In response, Netanyahu fired Gallant, which he later reversed following mass public protests.