Netanyahu: Claim I asked Shin Bet to act against innocent citizens ‘total falsehood’

In his affidavit to the High Court, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists he never asked Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to use the resources and authorities of the domestic security agency against peaceful anti-government activists, and cites a transcript of a meeting with Bar on June 6, 2023, where Netanyahu asked for input from the attorney general as to what could be considered legitimate protest and what was illegal.

Bar alleged in his own affidavit to the High Court of Justice last week that Netanyahu asked him on several occasions to act against Israeli citizens involved in peaceful protest activity against the government.

Bar was referring to activists who followed government ministers around and protested against them wherever they appeared in public, as part of the protest movement against the government’s judicial overhaul agenda in the first half of 2023.

“I want to bring in the attorney general because I want to understand what the limits of the law are,” Netanyahu cites himself as saying from the formal transcript of the June 6 meeting with Bar in the affidavit he submitted today.

“It isn’t clear to me what the limits are of harassment and persecution,” continued Netanyahu, asking the Shin Bet chief if such activity was legal.

“I don’t know to tell you,” replied Bar.

Writes Netanyahu: “I demanded from the head of the Shin Bet to act in accordance with the law to eradicate these dire activities, while Bar claims that I asked to violate the law.”

Bar alleged in his affidavit that Netanyahu made his requests to act against legitimate protest after the end of the meeting when the stenographer had left the room, so that it would not be documented.

Netanyahu counters by saying that in the majority of cases when the two spoke without a stenographer, it was in accordance with Bar’s request.